Day of Dance set to bring people together in Adderbury

Its 48 years since the tradition was revived in the village

Bells and baldricks will be proudly worn in Adderbury tomorrow (Saturday) as the village’s Day of Dance returns.   Each year morris dances are performed around the village by Adderbury’s two men’s sides and a ladies’ side.

The annual occasion brings a number of people to the village to witness the tradition.   Dances are performed at a number of locations, including former and existing public houses, and properties associated with village history and the revival of morris dancing.

In the nineteenth century many villages in Oxfordshire had their own team of Morris men.    However the tradition died out in most places, in part due to the loss of those who knew the dances during World War 1.

In Adderbury at the start of the twentieth century a local resident, Janet Blunt, together with folklorist Cecil Sharp, wrote down the dances and tunes after speaking to retired dancers.   A blue plaque commemorating Ms Blunt can be found outside Le Hall Place in Adderbury’s Manor Road.

A young solider in the first World War, Charlie Coleman, also passed on details of the tradition to a local man, Bryan Sheppard.   Using this information and Janet Blunt’s notes Mr Sheppard had the idea of reviving the tradition in 1975.

48 years later the village has three sides.   The Adderbury Village Morris Men contains some of the original dancers who helped revive the tradition.   The closely named Adderbury Morris Men is the other men’s side and the ladies side is called Sharpe and Blunt.

On Saturday dancing will begin at 10.30am, running through the day. 

This is the schedule for the sides:

Adderbury Village Morris Men

• 10.15 am: Assemble Old School (Library)
• 10.30 am. Churchyard Ceremony
• 10.50 am. Back of the Bell on Church Lane
• 11.20 am: Streams
• 11.40 am: Rose Cottage (Charlie’s House)
• 12 Noon: Bryan’s Tree, Colin Butler Green
• 12.30 pm: Outside the Bell with Adderbury Morris Men
• 1.30 pm: Lunch break, Coach & Horses
• 2.00 pm-3.30 pm: Dance at Coach & Horses and Red Lion
• 3.30 pm: At the Bell with Sharp and Blunt
• 4.00 pm: Tea
• 5.30 pm: The Bell

Adderbury Morris Men

• 10.30 am: The Old Wheatsheaf, followed by Coach & Horses
• 12 Noon: The Bell
• 1.00 pm: Lunch
• 2.15 pm: Adderbury Cemetery, Dog & Partridge and Old White Hart
• 3.00 pm: Manor Road and Le Hall Place
• 4.00 pm: Tea
• 5.30 pm: The Bell

Sharp and Blunt

• 11.45 am: Seccombe Court (formerly Gracewell) dancing in garden for residents (not for general public).
• 1.00 pm: The Red Lion
• 2.00 pm: Coach & Horses
• 4.00 pm: Tea
• 5.30 pm: The Bell

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Published: 21/04/2023 11:16am by Banbury FM Newsteam

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