Morris men at the Thelwall 1100 years festival 9-24th September 2023 History & Heritage Day, Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK, WA4 2SU

Thelwall Morris Men were formed in October 1973, the nucleus of the side being a group of regulars from the Thelwall Folk Club at the Pickering Arms, which was run by Maggie and Rod Goodall. All of these men were absolute beginners. Some had seen morris dancing at Keele University Folk Festival earlier in the year and fancied trying it. The only trouble was how to get started? The answer proved to be a small ad in Folk Review magazine, asking for someone to come and teach the dance. Around this time, Chris Maple, who became the side’s first squire and foreman had arrived in the North West to take up a job in Liverpool. Chris proved well equal to the task of getting his raw recruits off on the right foot (or in our case, the left). The side’s first musician was Fred Horrobin (Maggie’s dad) who busked on accordion for a couple of weeks until someone unearthed the exceptionally talented Steve Burgess from downtown Stockton Heath. Under Chris’s tuition, the side learned an assortment of Cotswold dances, mainly Bampton and Adderbury to begin with. The first public performance took place, without baldricks and badges, at the Pickering Arms in August 1974 before a sceptical audience of wives and girlfriends and members of the folk club. By 1975 the side had acquired it’s kit. Black breeches and shoes, white shirt and socks, with baldricks of pale blue and claret surmounted by a distinctive badge representing the wall of “Thells” or stakes from which Thelwall, England’s smallest city, derived its name in Anglo-Saxon times. The side’s first invitation to a day of dance was from Southport Swords in May 1975, and the inexperienced side made a favourable impression. The following year they attended their first Ring Meeting at Thaxted and have attended a Ring Meeting almost every year since then. In 1977, the side visited Ireland for the Cobh festival, quickly followed, in 1979, by an invitation to Mallow, Ireland