Holt Morris – The Potted History

The beginning

The phenomenon of Holt Morris or Morrismen (as we were known) was conceived under an alcoholic haze that (somehow), magically descended on a group of us one balmy summer’s evening back in ’87.  In fact it was the 4^th July 1987, after the village school fete.  Most of us made up the committee of the Holt School Association at the time and we were relaxing, after a busy day “organising”, with a really good BBQ! Pete (“I am a Morris Dancer”) Smith suddenly appeared among us be-decked with bells and handkerchiefs and proceeded to perform a solo jig (probably Princess Royal cos that’s the one he knows best!).  After the rest of us stopped rolling around the floor laughing we decided there was nothing to this Morris dancing lark and hanging on each other’s shoulders proceeded to demolish Pete’s flowerbeds. The morning after, once the paracetamol had kicked in, everyone denied that anything had ever taken place (the denial phase).

However, a seed had been sown!  Two years elapsed and Bryan (“Ha’way the Lads”) Baker (and current Squire) was charged with organising the Holt Village School Fete, to be based on an Olde English Theme.  “What we need” he thought “is some Morris Dancers – better still some Holt Morris Dancers”.  Having a quiet word with Pete (“I am a Morris Dancer”) Smith it was decided that if we could raise enough willing volunteers he would teach us for a “once only appearance” at the school fete.  After some severe arm twisting a side was raised and training began with Peter Smith as our first Squire.  Training took place in secret! Our first training session was on the 9^th May 1989.  After only seven weeks of practice we had learnt three Fieldtown dances and we made our public debut, as planned, on the 1^st July 1989 - the rest as they say is history! 

The Middle

Following our “superb” debut performance and the thought of giving up our boys night out (at the pub) we decided to continue our rigorous training regime and gradually we began to learn more, drink more and even become co-ordinated (well sort of!).  We concentrated on developing our own unique style of Cotswold Fieldtown Morris – the secret being to keep the weight always on the foot in the air!  Our artisan kit of white collar-less shirts, black cord trousers, black waist-coat and black bowler hat (trimmed with red and green ribbon) was adopted as was our mascot THE RAMPANT BADGER!

Probably due to the penchant for one or two of the team to occasionally be seen in women’s clothing (purely for legitimate reasons it has to be said) we changed our name from Holt Morrismen to simply Holt Morris – it seemed the PC thing to do!

As our confidence grew so did our repertoire and although concentrating on Cotswold Morris we perform not only Fieldtown but also Kirtlington, Bampton, Adderbury, Sherbourne, and even one or two original Holt dances.

Our numbers have swelled since the original nine and we now boast some 13 regular dancers and 5 musicians, ranging in age from – “I didn’t know you could be that old!” to “he’s got to be older than that!”

THE END

Don’t even think about it !!!