Morris Dancing

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In many quarters, Morris Dancing is unfashionable. Long may it remain so!

In the last fifteen years or so, like many of the best traditions, it has re-invented itself in many new interpretations, some rooted in the past, many not! It’s high time for some new ones, too!

I’ve been a (non-participant) fan for many years. As a pastime (I even once heard it called a sport!) it is one of the last resorts of the true English eccentric. For colour, spectacle, beer and genuinely nice people, it is hard to beat.

This part of the web site is currently mostly devoted to the Rochester Sweeps Festival and a few Tenterden Folk Festivals. I have some good material from elsewhere that I really must get around to adding.

Rochester Sweeps Festival

Great fun, first weekend in May every year without fail (until 2020). There are now photos here from the last 13 YEARS of Sweeps Festivals! 2019 was my 25th visit to the Festival. I have lots of photos in my archives from Sweeps Festivals in the late 1990s, but they are all on colour film, and I simply don't have time to sit and scan them all into digital form.

Please scroll down to see all the years. Latest photos are last on the list.

May 2007

May 2008

May 2009—Saturday

May 2009—Sunday

May 2010 Saturday (Sorry, Sunday was a washout!)

May 2010—Monday

2011—Saturday 30 April

2011—Sunday 1 May

2011—Monday 2 May

2012 - Saturday 5 May

2012 - Sunday 6 May

Sadly, I missed the Monday’s fun in 2012.

2013 - Saturday 4 May

2013 - Sunday 5 May

2013 - Monday 6 May

2014 - Saturday 3 May

2014 - Sunday 4 May

2014 - Monday 5 May

2015 - Dawn celebrations on Friday 1 May

2015 - Saturday 2 May

2015 - Sunday 3 May

2015 - Monday 4 May

2016 - Saturday 30 April

2016 - Sunday 1 May, including dawn celebrations

2016 - Monday 2 May

2017 - Saturday 29 April

2017 - Sunday 30 April

2017 - Monday 1 May (sorry, I missed the dawn celebrations)

2018 - Dawn Celebrations Tuesday 1 May

2018 - Saturday 5 May (Watch out! It's a big gallery!)

2018 - Sunday 6 May

2018 - Monday 7 May


2019 - Saturday 4 May (added 8 May 2019)

2019 - Sunday 5 May (added 8 May 2019)

2019 - Monday 6 May (added 8 May 2019)

(Unfortunately, a diary cock-up meant I missed the dawn celebrations on 1 May in 2019)

Sadly there were no festivals in 2020 or 2021, and I managed to get to just one small part of the 2022 event.

Latest!

"Waking Jack in the Green", Dawn on 1 May 2022


A few Tenterden Folk Festivals

Pictures from October 2007

Pictures from October 2008

Pictures from October 2009

Pictures from October 2010

Regrettably, I missed several Tenterden Festivals until:

Pictures from Sunday 8 October 2017

Pictures from Sunday 7 October 2018

This last gallery ought to have been larger. However, I had to head for home earlier than intended, courtesy of a migraine. I simply forgot to go to the 2019 Festival, which turned out to be a bigger oversight than I'd imagined, as Covid then came along.


Other Morris Photography

On 10 June 2015 I had a delightful evening photographing the very contrasting Steampunk Morris and the Weald of Kent Morris at Frittenden in Kent.
Photos here.

And on 21 September 2016, I was pleased to shoot
this set of photos of Steampunk Morris with Bower Street Morris, at the Flower Pot in Maidstone.

On 9 September 2017, I got to photograph Cuckoo's Nest, The Seven Champions, and Adderbury Morris, at the Bull at Benenden, in Kent.
Photos here.


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