Author Archives: adminshrews

Dance Out – Shifnal Farmers Market

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Our first dance-out of the season saw us invited to perform at Shifnal Farmers Market on Sat 20th April. We arrived on a gloriously sunny Spring morning and, while we were readying ourselves managed to meet a lot of our friends on Twitter, which is how we “got the gig” on the first place!

The team all performed very well considering it was the first dance-out of the 2013 season and some of our new members also came along to watch and see what they have got themselves into ! (they’re still with us so we clearly didn’t frighten them off 😉 )

Clog dance Bobby Shaftoe

As our performance got going we attracted a large and very appreciative crowd which pleased the adjacent market traders and particularly the church raffle ticket sale which was taking place in a gazebo right next to our dancing area. We should have asked for a percentage!

The beautiful weather continued throughout our time there and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, all three teams (Bull and Pump men, Lasses and Clog) got a good work out. Our musicians played really well too, as always and we are looking forward to adding to their ranks as the year goes on.
Shifnal Farm Market - April 2013

Cathy Brown has taken to swiping my camera when it’s my turn to dance with the men which means that at last there are some photos of the men with me in them. Well done Cathy 🙂

Gallop at Shifnal

Our welcome from the organisers and the people of Shifnal was wonderful and we really appreciate the trouble they took to look after us.

Great fun, great weather, super dancing and lovely people…….the first Morris of the season doesn’t get much better than this.

Graydon

Morris Federation AGM – 28th September 2013

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Shrewsbury Morris are proud and delighted to be hosting this year’s Morris Federation AGM and Day of Dance.

The Morris Federation is a United Kingdom association of self-governing Morris clubs, which aims to encourage and maintain interest in the practice of Morris dancing by women and men of all ages – over 400 sides are a part of the Federation.

On September 28th 2013, Shrewsbury will be hosting the annual AGM and Day of Dance – welcoming many of those Morris sides to our beautiful town of Shrewsbury. A spectacle not to be missed, if you follow us on Twitter at @shrewsmorris or @28Sept2013 we will keep you up to date with all the sides that are coming along and where you can see them dancing.

We are also delighted to announce that Shrewsbury firm Red Recruitment have agreed to sponsor the day. Many thanks to them! There is still room for more sponsors too; if you are interested in being a part of a fun, cultural and beautiful day for Shrewsbury, please do get in touch with us via Twitter or at bev.langton@talk21.com

 

 

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#MorrisHour – what’s that then?

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We at Shrewsbury Morris (or at least some of us) are very keen to use social media (mostly Twitter & Facebook) – not only to advertise our dance programme and how to join us, but also to support the whole online Morris community. And a thriving and vibrant community it is too!

A recent example of this was being able to highlight the plight of the Britannia Coconutters, and after a sustained Twitter campaign to spread the word, we were delighted to see that their story had been seen and passed on by over 50,000 people on Twitter (including Bellowhead and Mike Harding) and eventually made it to several national newspapers and the Radio 2 breakfast show.

So – what’s the story with #MorrisHour?

Here in the beautiful and friendly county of Shropshire, for a little while now we’ve been running a Twitter hour every week called #ShropshireHour. The aim is to find about about and support local businesses and organisations. Everyone uses the #ShropshireHour hashtag and introduces themselves and what they get up to. We all then RT (retweet) each others Tweets, sending them out to a wider audience. There’s also lots of conversations,following, recommendations and chat going on too and it can turn into quite a frenzied hour! It’s a great way to build and nuture our online community for Shropshire and really spread the word about our artists, artisans, countryside, residents and businesses. Plus – great fun!

So, last night, #MorrisHour was born. Suggested by @shrewsmorris and orchestrated by the highly efficient @CatFereday, it will take place every Wednesday from 7-8pm. Come and post your morris, clog, rapper and longsword news. Tell us all who you are and what you are up to. RT everyone else’s news and they will RT yours. Follow a morris side you might not have heard of and have a chat with a dancer from the other end of the country! Compare notes on sticks, bells, garlands and clogs. In the immortal words of Ripley Morris Men, come and ‘talk bobbins’!

If you’re not on Twitter and are wondering what it’s all about, feel free to email us and we’ll have a chat with you about it – we know it’s helped us start growing the Shrewsbury Morris side this year and the Morris community is a wonderful, friendly one to be a part of.

Shrewsbury Morris tweet as @shrewsmorris, with much support (or possibly interference!) from @cathyab and @langtonray and you can find us on Facebook too. We look forward to chatting with you on Wednesdays 7-8pm!

Shrewsbury Morris Update

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It’s been a busy few weeks at Shrewsbury Morris! We ran two open evenings in January and were delighted to welcome quite a few newcomers, despite the weather. We had great support from Radio Shropshire who ran several interviews with team members and newcomers in January too.

Several of the people who came along to see what we are all about enjoyed themselves so much that they came back! Last week’s practice was so well attended we were able to split up into three groups and get some really intensive practice in and our string section in the band has increased by 2 people.

We are filling up our spring/summer programme, so if you want to book us for anything get in quick! You can email us here or Tweet us at @shrewsmorris

In team social news we are all looking forward to our annual walking weekend, this year in beautiful Snowdonia at Bryn Gwynant.

And our big focus for the year is hosting the Morris Federation AGM. Plans are well advanced and we are hoping to fill Shrewsbury with Morris sides on September 28th 2013. Watch out for more updates soon!

If you want to come along and join in, we rehearse on Thursday nights in Sundorne School, Shrewsbury at 8pm – come along one evening and see what we’re all about.

 

 

FIRST OPEN EVENING WAS GREAT!

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Our first Shrewsbury Morris Open Evening last night (17th Jan) was a great sucess and it was good to see how quickly the newcomers picked up the dances. If you missed last night our next Open Evening is Thursday January 24th 2013 at Sundorne School, Corndon Crescent, Shrewsbury SY1 4LL from 8.00 pm. Don’t miss out on the fun and laughter you’ll be made very welcome and there will be drinks and nibbles  (and did we mention cake?). Thanks to Radio Shropshire for the interviews-look forward to hearing them. Should feature on 2 or 3 shows over the next few days!

FIRST OF TWO OPEN EVENINGS THIS WEEK (17th JAN)

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This Thursday, that’s the 17th January 2013, sees the first of two Open Evenings with The Shrewsbury Morris Dancers! Come along and find out more about morris dancing, why we do it, what we do, who we are and of course, have a go. Absolutely free and we throw in drinks and nibbles as well. So put on some sensible shoes (trainers are fine), and head down to Sundorne School, Corndon Crescent in Shrewsbury SY1 4LL for some fun in good company.

Morris Dancing with The Shrewsbury Morris Dancers is street theatre and dance performance so if you have always fancied yourself as a performer come along the company is great!

OPEN EVENINGS 2013

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Time for new year resolutions?

Want to get fit in fun company?

Would like to support England’s finest dance traditions?

Never tried Morris Dancing before , but fancy having a go?

Then come along to one (or both) of our Open Evenings. Thursdays,  January 17th and 24th from 8.00 pm at Sundorne School, Corndon Crescent, Shrewsbury SY1 4LL.

Good company, good fun and drinks and nibbles guaranteed!.

Christmas Ceilidh – Sold Out!

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Ladies and Gentlemen, somewhat incredibly our Christmas Ceilidh has completely sold out well over a week before the event!

If you have a ticket already, brilliant! See you there.

If you have pre-ordered a ticket and are paying for it on the night…..brilliant…..you will get in without any problem. See you there.

If you have not yet bought a ticket or pre-ordered a ticket then sorry but there are none left and you will not be able to get in. There will NOT now be any payment for entry at the door. If you were planning to come without a ticket you will not be able to get in, (with the greatest regret). Please pass on if you know anyone intending to come and pay at the door.

We are looking forward to a packed and really fun night. See you there (if you have a ticket!