Berkshire Bedlam Morris
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Welcome to the Home Page of Berkshire Bedlam! |
BB - still rated amongst the top 99% of all Morris sides in the country..... |
Who are we ?
Berkshire
Bedlam,
a renowned men's Cotswold Morris dance team from Wokingham in Berkshire, were formed in
1977, and perform a wide range of dances. While some are based on the legendary
Leafield dances of Oxfordshire, the majority of today's repertoire is
original compositions put together in recent years. Whatever the dance, BB's aim is to perform
with gusto and spirit, and to present spectacular and original
performances. Do
we succeed? - come and see us to find out!
You can find out lots more about us through this site including
something of our history, and a guide to the dances in our past and
present repertoire. There are old and recent pictures of the side in our
gallery section, latest
news of events, a guide to our media appearances, and you
can even find out what happens at a Berkshire Bedlam Bunfight.
New dancers are always welcome at any of our weekly practices whether an
experienced dancer or a novice, and we can provide full tuition for anyone keen
to have a go - contact details at the bottom of the page!
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Recent and Future Happenings .... |
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Open sessions in October!
We look forward to welcoming any
beginners, improvers, or experienced dancers who would like to come along to
any of our October practice evenings (4th, 11th, 18th, 25th). |
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2018 - another great year!  More excitement than Oblivion at Alton Towers - that's been the Berkshire Bedlam programme for 2018! We've enjoyed great days in the sun in Oxford and Brighton, chairing the Mayor in Abingdon, and successful appearances at the Warwick Folk Festival. With plenty more events to come - (see our future events page for details) - it's another highly enjoyable year! |
2018 Bunfight - BB on the Piste!
Not long now until this year's Bunfight - Saturday 24th Nov, as usual at the California Ratepayers Hall, Finchampstead, and again this year with band The Diatonics, and caller 'Mr. Marvellous', Nick Walden. This year's theme (entirely optional) is 'BB on the Piste - an Alpine Adventure!'. Tickets on sale shortly! See the Bunfights page for more details of our Bunfights and pictures of previous year's events. An evening not to be missed! |
2017 - our 40th birthday year!
 2017 was BB's 40 birthday year, and what a celebration we had last July! Apart from that though we enjoyed a sunny day at the Oxford Folk Festival where we featured in a Spanish TV documentary, had a fabulous weekend in May at the JMO in Leicester followed by a day in the morris heartland of Adderbury, partly dedicated to a celebration of David's forthcoming marriage to Heather in June. We also had days out in Reading, Lewes, and Wallingford, a brief appearance at Sidmouth Folk Week, and then our November weekend of Beatles themed Bunfight followed by the Wokingham Winter Carnival. We were also invited onto the morning show on Radio Berkshire! Our big event of the year though was held over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd July, when we hosted a number of other superb teams at our 40th anniversary celebration, based at Tadley Rugby Club, themed 'Billy Bedlam's Holiday Camp'. On the Saturday we visited locations around West Berkshire, followed by a fantastic celebration evening including spots and musical interludes from us and our guests. Who there will ever forget Elvis Steptoe? On Sunday we all danced in the centre of Reading to round off a great weekend. Pictures of all our 2017 events in the 2017 gallery pages and full story of the year in latest news! |
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2017 Sidmouth - Will's jigs rock!
 August's John Gasson jig competition at Sidmouth proved to be the year of Will. A fantastic jig in Hammersmith colours with excellent accompaniment by Jim Sawyer saw them run away with first place in the solo jig competition - as well as John's Mum's special prize for the jig she enjoyed most. And shortly after that, dancing with Kynan Parker-Roth, and accompanied by our own Jerry, all in fetching bandanas, the 3 of them won the double jig competition. Go Will! |
Downton
Morris ... Anyone wonder who the mystery morris team was briefly featured in the BBC's 2012 Christmas Day's Downton Abbey?    Yes, it was some of BB who just happened to be in the Downton area on the day of filming, and stopped by to liven up the country fair using some borrowed togs. For added authenticity, some of the young chaps had a short back and sides first, which they thought was just spiffing... |
| Latest Media News !! |
Yes, you can now have a little BB at home with you by ordering one of our DVDs - see the MEDIA PAGE for details, and also links to our various media appearances in print, in pop videos, on TV, and on YouTube! |
Contact Us / Join Us / Book Us
CONTACT US NOW FOR
DETAILS OF OUR BEGINNERS / IMPROVERS EVENINGS IN OCTOBER - ALL WELCOME!
We're always delighted to welcome
new members. We practise on Thursday evenings at the Scout Hut in Evendons Lane,
Wokingham, RG41 4DX (click
here for map) and dance out at festivals, pubs and
other events throughout the summer. If you would like to come to any of our
practice evenings to try it for yourself, you will be very welcome, especially
for our October practice evenings aimed at beginners and improvers (though maybe
phone or drop us an email first to check what we are doing!) - we may also run
occasional weekend practices for those who can't make a Thursday evening. If you would like to find out
more about us, or check if we may be available for a particular event, our
contact details are:
Main contact & Webmaster
- Malcolm Major - Tel 01189 771952 or 07715 294568, or e-mail malcolmmajor
at ntlworld dot com
You can also contact the following :
Foreman
- David Steptoe (david dot steptoe at ntlworld dot com)
Squire
- Charles Allison (cmuisca1 at aol dot com)
Publicity -
Florent Crepineau (florentcrepineau at yahoo dot fr)
And finally, if you
would like to find out more about other Morris sides, or Morris dancing in
general, try these links :
Morris Side Finder : a UK wide
guide to find teams in all parts of the country
Wikipedia's
Morris Dance Page :
a good
explanation of the origins, history, terminology and different styles of morris
and remember ....
....it never rains on Berkshire Bedlam