Brackley’s traditional May Day morning celebration
01/05/2026
Brackley Morris has a history dating back over 400 years
A good number of people were up early to celebrate May Day in Brackley this morning as Brackley Morris Dancers kept alive the tradition of performing outside the Town Hall at 5.30am.
Brackley’s Town Mayor, Councillor Bernie Tiller, was amongst those watching as the sun rose across the Market Place.
Brackley Morris were joined by their guests Queens Oak – a ladies’ side from Yardley Gobion.
The Brackley Morris Squire is Adrian Watts. He said: “May Day is a tradition throughout the Morris dancing community where we all get up to celebrate the beginning of summer. We’re very lucky, we always get great support from the community. It’s an event we always look forward to and it’s a tradition which we’ve been doing in Brackley for well over 40 years now.
“Brackley Morris has been going for over 400 years so it’s a well-known and well-respected tradition within the Morris community. We dance the Cotswold tradition with our very own dances and music.”
Dances were performed for around an hour and concluded with spectators, including the Mayor, being encouraged to join in.
During the last year there has been one subtle change to the side, formerly known as the Brackley Morris Men, which had led to even more people getting involved.
Mr Watts said: “We’re actually now the Brackley Morris Dancers – we’ve moved on with the times.
“We’re open to everybody. It’s gone down very well and we have new members for that exact reason.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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