The last time Leeds Morris Men danced in public was at Wakefield Rhubarb Festival on Saturday 22nd February 2020. We danced The Soldiers Joy in memory of one of our friends from Forest of Dean Morris Men, who had passed away in January. Little did we realise that we were also saying goodbye to a full season’s dancing from April to September – including every Thursday evening, outside a range of Leeds pubs (usually two pubs a night). We are connoisseurs of the best of Leeds’ pubs! Then there would have been our regular bookings at summer festivals across England, from sunny Whitby to Sheringham on the Norfolk coast.

I am a relative newcomer to Leeds Morris, having danced with the side for a mere twenty nine years. Other members have danced for forty and even fifty or more years. The club was founded at Leeds University in 1950, though nowadays very few members are connected with the University. I’ve always loved to dance: from being the only boy in my primary school country dance team, through an adolescence of rock n roll, a young adulthood of disco, Hi Ho Silver Lining, pogo-ing, and some international folk dance, until I found my real niche at the ripe old age of forty two. For me, Leeds Morris has been more than great exercise, music, beer and good company: it has kept me relatively sane through job losses, phases of unemployment, family breakdown, mental health crises and bereavement. Not that the average Morris man is a great counsellor. Can you imagine? No, but Morris has been a reliable, available, always welcoming leitmotif throughout all those years. It can even be seen as a form of moving meditation, where worries can be cast aside, as we merge ourselves with the music and the patterns of the dance. Not completely deterred by the present circumstances of Covid 19, we are meeting on-line, and even managed a dance for our traditional tour of the Yorkshire Dales, on May Bank Holiday Monday. In reality, it was a dozen or so of us, recording ourselves dancing the same dance, solo, in our living rooms, yards and gardens. The contributions were then cleverly edited together by one of our younger members and posted on Facebook for all to see – including those villages which have welcomed our visit, every May for the last sixty eight years. No longer locked down: but virtual!