This is the Bristol Morris Men's Home Page

Who are we?

We are Bristol's longest-established men's Morris Dance Side, founded in 1951. We perform Cotswold Morris Dances, (some more traditional than others!), to music provided by melodeon, concertina, fiddle or pipe and tabor. Our current active membership is around two dozen, but we are always on the look-out for new dancers or musicians - particularly as quite a few of our younger members are now away studying at university. We also have a cantankerous horse, called (funnily enough) Horse, who now has his own Web Page!

We are always delighted to welcome prospective new members, either dancers or musicians. No previous experience is necessary, but the best time for newcomers to investigate us, or start dancing is around October. This is because our practice season runs largely from the end of September to mid April. We dance throughout the year, but our busiest season for dancing out is between May and July. The official start of our dancing year is on May Day - May 1st - when commence dancing at sunrise in Castle Park, Bristol.

Where can you find us?

Bristol is the largest city in the South-West of England, and our members come from quite a wide area. Our club practises on Thursday evenings at 8.00 p.m. from September through May, but throughout the Summer most Thursdays will find us performing for the unsuspecting public at pubs, rather than in the practice hall!. Our current practice hall is the gymnasium of the Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School, Berkeley Place, Bristol BS8 1 JX., (but use the entrance half-way-down Jacob's Wells Road!). Click here for a map!

At around 10.00 p.m., when practice is over we generally retire to the excellent Bag O'Nails pub on St. George's Road.

See the enthusiastic reviews we have had in the National Press of our legendary Club Nights!

What dances do we perform?

Our morris dance repertoire is based on dances originally performed in the Cotswold villages of Ascott-under-Wychwood, Bledington, Oddington, Wheatley, Ducklington, Eynsham; Ilmington; and Lichfield. (If you want to see how often we perform each dance, here are our dance charts!)

The side also performs Rapper Sword dances, from the North-East of England, mainly during the Winter season. Find details of our sworded activities here!

Where can you see us perform?

We are actually doing some stuff this year, and here are details of some of it.

What do we do on Boxing Day each year?

We perform the Keynsham Mummers Play - in Keynsham, funnily enough.

Pssst! Wanna see some pics of us?

Here are the latest 2007 pictures of us; then from 2004 see us dancing with our friends Lauterbacher Trachtengilde (April); then 2004's MayDay in two locations (!); plus the Dolphin Ring Meeting, the 2004 Chippenham Festival, and the Hannover Schutzenfest; closely followed by previous years' snapshots like: 2003, on our camping trip to the Wyre Forest area in May; in Sardinia; on Erik Day with Earlsdon; at Bromyard; and in Shropshire once again, and dancing in Brittany for Lanvellec en fête (November). These are 2002 snapshots of us (dancing in Broadmead with our Breton friends, Keltiad, for Folk around May Day; our Family Camp in Cornwall; at large in Germany for the International Folklore Avalanche; (very) briefly in Poland; performing at the Chippenham Folk Festival; and at the Saddleworth Rushcart celebrations). (Look here for details of our Ring Meeting held in July 2002, and go here for photos of the event. Further back in time to2001 featuring our exploits in Bristol, Devon, Chippenham, Bampton, Stroud, Sheffield, Bromyard & Brittany: have bells, will travel! Remember 2000? These pix were taken in Yorkshire and Pembrokeshire and Bristol. From the previous Summer (1999), here are some photographs of us dancing with the Shropshire Bedlams and Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish at the Bishop's Castle Midsummer Rejoicing. And here are some photographs of us taken in November 1998 as well as a selection of other photographs of the side taken earlier in 1998. You may wish to see three of our youngest dancers performing a Three-man jig; or you can peruse some older pictures of us on visits to Cornwall and Hanover (May-June 1997). Look at us dancing in Spring 1996, performing with other morris sides at the Silkeborg Ring Meeting in Denmark, August 1996, and performing with Earlsdon Morris Men from Coventry during "National Erik Ilott Day", September 1996. However, if it's just recent Mugshots of us that you'd like to see, simply follow this link!

Wanna see our moves?

Here's us dancing on May Day, 2008

Where can I find more information about morris dancing?

John Maher of Bristol Morris Men, who is also Overseas Bagman for the Morris Ring, has a Web Page called "Mainly Morris Dancing" giving many useful links to other morris sides, and information about folk dancing. There is also an electronic discussion list for morris dancers worldwide.