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Chippenham Morris
England
Chippenham Morris (England)
Chippenham Morris were formed in 1978 through a chance meeting in a pub. John Coleman and Hans Jensen met Tuddy Reynolds who knows a lot about Morris and who had started other Morris sides. They decided to start one in Chippenham.
There is not known Morris tradition in Chippenham, though there may have been morris teams in the surrounding villages which have long since died out. Hans and John were married to school teachers, who encouraget some of their pupils to join. Along with some other friends, they made up Chippenham Morris and several, incluiding John, are still dancing with us today.
The Morris prospered and added several differend Costwold traditions to their repertoire. In 1987 we were joined by the last four members of Bath Spa Morris when their numbers grew too few to continue. Two have since moved to pastures new but the other two are still with us today. Numbers have grown over the years and there are now arround two dozen dancers and musicians. Click ere to see members past and present.
We developed a taste for travel and to date have danced at several international events, several in France, in Rouen, Brest and smaller places including Chippenham's twin town La Fleche. They ave also danced in Rome, Helsinki, Szeged in Hiungary and Roscommon in Ireland.
