A RIOT of colour, music and the jingling of bells will sound across the region this weekend with the return of the Vale of Evesham National Morris Weekend.
Towns and villages across Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire and will see dancers and musicians be seen taking to the street and lanes between Friday 19 and Sunday, 21 June for the annual celebration of folk dancing traditions.
The event, now in its 23rd year, will involve over 400 dancers from 40 ‘sides’ across England and Wales dancing different genres, including Appalachian, Border, Cotswold, Mumming, Molly Dancing, Northwest, Clog Stepping and Sword.
Cuckoo’s Nest Women’s Morris side. Picture by Lise Evans
The festivities will include informal folk music and song sessions on the Friday and Saturday evenings at Evesham Rowing Club, the Red Lion, Evesham and the Fleece Inn, Bretforton.
On Saturday, the Morris sides go out dancing at the various towns and villages across the region, culminating in an end-of-day display in Abbey Gardens, Evesham.
Market Square in Evesham town centre will see a variety of lively dancing displays throughout Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
Sunday morning will start with a service at All Saints Church, Market Place, Evesham at 10am with morris dancing in the church, followed by a procession of 40 sides from Abbey Park to Market Square via Bridge Street at 11am.
The mayor of Evesham, Coun Bill Kimberley will then present the ‘Evesham Stick’ to the side judged to have best-demonstrated the ‘spirit of the morris’.
Other highlights include a special quarter peal rung from Evesham’s 16th Century Bell Tower by members of the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers at 6.30pm on Saturday.
There will also be a service at All Saints Church, Market Place, Evesham on Sunday at 10am with morris dancing in the church.
See nationalmorrriswweekend.co.uk for information on the full schedule which includes Bretforton, Broadway, Bromsgrove, Blackwell, Childswickham, Droitwich, Evesham, Feckenham, Inkberrow and Worcester in Worcestershire.
Chipping Campden, Tewkesbury and Toddington in Gloucestershire and Alcester, Ilmington, Stratford, Welford and Warwick in Warwickshire.
