King John's Morris Men perform Cotswold, North West and Border morris and a mummers' play in and around Southampton, and often further afield, and are actively seeking new members.

We meet every week for practice between September and April and dance out a suitable venue, usually on a Thursday evening, between May and August, beside various other events.

Please see the Events page for details of where to see us in 2011 - we also usually play and sing after we have danced on a Thursday evening; see the updated Mumming page for details of where our mummers' play will appear this year.

Our next music and song session is at the Brushmakers' Arms, 2 Shoe Lane, Upham SO32 1JJ on Friday 24th February 2012; we intend to hold similar sessions at a pub in or near Southampton on the last Friday in the month through until April 2012 - please the Events page for further information.

At the AGM on 5th September 2011 Malcolm Cope and Richard Cross failed to make good their escape from the posts of Squire and Treasurer respectively, but Gordon Day passed the Bagman's ball to Phil Le Page. Phil is still wondering what hit him ...

About Us

We dance at various venues throughout the year (see the events page), performing a number of styles of Morris appropriate to the season and venue. In the spring and summer, we perform Morris in the style of the southern midlands of England, often referred to as "Cotswold" Morris.

At suitable venues, we also perform dances from Lancashire and Cheshire, often referred to as North West Morris, a more regimented style, danced in clogs. Around Christmas we perform dances from the Welsh borders and also mummers plays based on those collected in Hampshire.

We have danced at numerous events in England and abroad, including various fetes, days of dance, festivals at Sidmouth, Whitby, Towersey, Bromyard, in France and at Babylon. After the Babylon trip, the Morris Ring's Overseas Bagman was heard to wonder "how did they get return tickets ... ?"

We always welcome new members - no experience is necessary - please contact the one of the officers via the contacts page.

Our practices are on Mondays, excepting bank holidays, from 20:00 as follows (but please check with the Bagman before making a journey):

at the Scout Centre, Chamberlayne Road, Eastleigh, SO50 5JH

(OS grid: SU452188; Lat: 50.96730241, Long: -1.35757864)

we usually practise our North West morris on the first Monday in the month and Cotswold (and Border, in season) on the other Mondays.

Contacts