In 1993 four people who had all been involved in Morris dance and folk for many years felt it was time to leave their respective Morris Sides and form a new, vibrant mixed Morris Side.
The first practice was on 12 July 1993 and the inaugural AGM on 12 October 1993 with the first Dance out at the Duke's Head Brockham on Boxing Day 1993. The first dance out in kit was St George's Day 1994.
The Founding Members who formed the Side were
Martina Preece our First Squire
Tim Curtin our First Foreman
Ray Henderson our First Bagman
Neil McRitchie our First Musician
Our constitution is unchanged over all these years.
The main aim of the Side is to dance, have fun and to entertain!
We recognise that the Morris is a living and evolving tradition; we will try to maintain a high standard of performance which does not conflict with our main aim.
We are a mixed sex Morris Side where all of us are regarded as performers and so we have no concern for sets looking symmetrical with regard to the positions of men and women within the set – no division will be made with regard to gender.
As members we should be loyal to our Side but we are happy if our fellow members wish to perform with other Sides (whether in our Kit or not) and we will – wherever possible – give people from other Sides the opportunity to dance with us if they so wish
We have always danced in the Cotswold tradition, mainly Adderbury and Bledington styles, but also interesting dances from other traditions such as Moulton, Bampton, Badby, Fieldtown and Lichfield, and the ‘local’ style from Horsham – with a couple of Border dances as well for added ooomph!
Our talented musicians provide the vital rhythmic lift and instrumentation for the dancers and are sometimes thrown into the odd dance or two!
Our dancing season is very often (unsurprisingly!) near pubs in Surrey/Sussex, but we enjoy dancing further afield and with other Sides too. We have also danced abroad at Lille France, around Paderborn Germany, near Dublin Ireland, Tuscany Italy, Sicily, Prague Czech Republic, Gascony France, Heidleberg Germany and Scilly Isles.