The next couple of weekends will be busy for the area’s merry band of English folk dancers, the North Wood Morris Men (they’re actually based in Purley; North Wood is a reference to ancient wood which dominated the hilly slopes around Croydon, and from which Norwood gets its name).
Morris dancing in its current form is about a hundred years old, collated from English folk dances. North Wood was formed as a group 40 years ago, and as tradition dictates, it is complete with squires, fools and even baldricks. And to save you Googling it, as well as the name of Tony Robinson’s dim character in Blackadder, a baldrick (or baldric) is part of the Morris Man’s kit, the leather cross belts associated with the uniform.
The May Day holiday period has special interest for Morris Men, and the North Wood team is in action on Saturday.
They will also be performing widely across the area on May 11, their Day of Dance, including a visit to The Hope in Carshalton, CAMRA’s Greater London pub of the year in 2012, and with a special performance in the centre of Croydon, right outside the Green Dragon pub at the top end of Surrey Street.
Though if the team has a pint at each of their performance stops along the way…
The full schedule is as follows:
May 4
- 11.15am-12.15 St Christopher’s Hospice, Open Garden Event, 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, SE26 6DZ
- 1.45pm May Queen Crowning, Warlingham Green, Warlingham
May 11
- 9.45am Leave Conduit Lane
- 10.30am The Assembly Rooms, 147-153 High Street, Epsom
- 12 noon The Woolpack, High Street, Banstead
- 1.45pm The Star, Kingston Road, Leatherhead
- 4pm The Hope, 48 West Street, Carshalton
- 5.30pm The Green Dragon, 60 High Street Croydon
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