East Kent Morris Men perform Cotswold style Morris dance – that’s bells, sticks and handkerchiefs. Our uniforms are red, white and blue and we have Invicta on the back of our red waistcoats. He is Kent’s rampant white horse, seen on village nameplates all over. We even have our own Invicta, who is allowed out occasionally – keep a tight grip on your small change if he looks hungry.

We dance Adderbury, Fieldtown, Ilmington and other traditions and are currently working on our Headington technique. These traditions are named after their parent Cotswold villages. Adderbury is now an Oxford suburb. We also dance eight-man dances from Lichfield, which is in Staffordshire, but the style is still ‘Cotswold’

We choose are dances from hundreds and always try to select those that are fun to perform and attractive to watch. We also perform a couple of our own dances which are based on existing traditions (so the figures are similar) but have unique features. Both of them have been dedicated to former dancers who have since moved on to that great morris gig in the sky – although there is no reason why we couldn’t just make up a dance because we felt like it.

From October to May we practice most* Wednesday evenings 8.15pm at Willesborough Scout Hut, Breadlands Road Ashford TN24 0EP

Anyone who would like to join either as dancer or musician should contact the side for more details or simply turn up at practice – please check first to confirm our being there.

During the summer we perform at a mixture of fetes, festivals and paid stands, these are usually at weekends. Wednesday or Friday evenings we might dance at a pub.

For information on booking the side to perform at your event, please use the contact the side page.

We have excellent pubs in our area, we will visit and dance at as many as we can during the Summer.

The events page shows our planned performances for the year