In many quarters, Morris Dancing is unfashionable. Long may it remain so!
In the last fifteen years or so, like many of the best traditions, it has re-invented itself in many new interpretations, some rooted in the past, many not! It’s high time for some new ones, too!
I’ve been a (non-participant) fan for many years. As a pastime (I even once heard it called a sport!) it is one of the last resorts of the true English eccentric. For colour, spectacle, beer and genuinely nice people, it is hard to beat.
This part of the web site is currently mostly devoted to the Rochester Sweeps Festival and a few Tenterden Folk Festivals. I have some good material from elsewhere that I really must get around to adding.
Rochester Sweeps Festival
Great fun, first weekend in May every year without fail (until 2020). There are now photos here from the last 13 YEARS of Sweeps Festivals! 2019 was my 25th visit to the Festival. I have lots of photos in my archives from Sweeps Festivals in the late 1990s, but they are all on colour film, and I simply don't have time to sit and scan them all into digital form.
Please scroll down to see all the years. Latest photos are last on the list.
May 2007
May 2008
May 2009—Saturday
May 2009—Sunday
May 2010 Saturday (Sorry, Sunday was a washout!)
May 2010—Monday
2011—Saturday 30 April
2011—Sunday 1 May
2011—Monday 2 May
2012 - Saturday 5 May
2012 - Sunday 6 May
Sadly, I missed the Monday’s fun in 2012.
2013 - Saturday 4 May
2013 - Sunday 5 May
2013 - Monday 6 May
2014 - Saturday 3 May
2014 - Sunday 4 May
2014 - Monday 5 May
2015 - Dawn celebrations on Friday 1 May
2015 - Saturday 2 May
2015 - Sunday 3 May
2015 - Monday 4 May
2016 - Saturday 30 April
2016 - Sunday 1 May, including dawn celebrations
2016 - Monday 2 May
2017 - Saturday 29 April
2017 - Sunday 30 April
2017 - Monday 1 May (sorry, I missed the dawn celebrations)
2018 - Dawn Celebrations Tuesday 1 May
2018 - Saturday 5 May (Watch out! It's a big gallery!)
2018 - Sunday 6 May
2018 - Monday 7 May
2019 - Saturday 4 May (added 8 May 2019)
2019 - Sunday 5 May (added 8 May 2019)
2019 - Monday 6 May (added 8 May 2019)
(Unfortunately, a diary cock-up meant I missed the dawn celebrations on 1 May in 2019)
Sadly there were no festivals in 2020 or 2021, and I managed to get to just one small part of the 2022 event.
Latest!
"Waking Jack in the Green", Dawn on 1 May 2022
A few Tenterden Folk Festivals
Pictures from October 2007
Pictures from October 2008
Pictures from October 2009
Pictures from October 2010
Regrettably, I missed several Tenterden Festivals until:
Pictures from Sunday 8 October 2017
Pictures from Sunday 7 October 2018
This last gallery ought to have been larger. However, I had to head for home earlier than intended, courtesy of a migraine. I simply forgot to go to the 2019 Festival, which turned out to be a bigger oversight than I'd imagined, as Covid then came along.
Other Morris Photography
On 10 June 2015 I had a delightful evening photographing the very contrasting Steampunk Morris and the Weald of Kent Morris at Frittenden in Kent. Photos here.
And on 21 September 2016, I was pleased to shoot this set of photos of Steampunk Morris with Bower Street Morris, at the Flower Pot in Maidstone.
On 9 September 2017, I got to photograph Cuckoo's Nest, The Seven Champions, and Adderbury Morris, at the Bull at Benenden, in Kent. Photos here.
