Etcetera Morris Men have been entertaining Enfield since the 1970s, writes Liz Heron

Etcetera Morris Men performing in Enfield Town in the 1970s

All up! Handkerchiefs are flying, sticks clashing and ankle bells jingling across Enfield as the

Etcetera Morris Men celebrate their 50th anniversary with a whole year of dance.

The festivities began last September with a marathon ‘Day of Dance’ taking in six venues across Enfield Town and surrounding areas to mark the day they were founded in 1974 – the first of twelve major events on the calendar.

The borough’s home-grown Morris dancing side was launched at the former Enfield Teachers’ Centre, off Southbury Road, by teacher Colin Roker, who learnt while studying at Keele University, and his childhood friend Mike Smith.

“One evening he said ‘do you fancy doing some Morris dancing?’,” says Mike, 81, the side’s foreman who leads its practice nights and training. “I stupidly said ‘yes’, and it just went from there. It just gradually built up – friends, friends of friends, and talking to people.”

The fledgling team was invited to a meeting of London Morris clubs, where Colin Fleming, of Westminster Morris, agreed to come and give them weekly training sessions in Enfield. The training soon grew to two sessions per week as other Westminster dancers took part and Etcetera Morris Men gave their first-ever public dance in June 1975.

Like Westminster Morris, Etcetera Morris Men dance to the melodeon – or button accordion – and follow the Cotswold style of Morris dancing, which developed in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, and includes a range of traditions associated with different villages.

Squire Malcolm Alter, 66, who leads the dances, says: “There are certain traditions that the side has as standard. The ones we do most often are Bampton, Adderbury, Fieldtown, Bledington, Lichfield, Bucknell and Headington Quarry.”

The side have also invented dances of their own within those traditions, including one called Gentleman’s Row after the historic street in Enfield Town, which features a novel choreography in which the set of dancers rotates through 360 degrees.

Etcetera Morris Men performing recently at Forty Hall Farm

“At least once a year, we try and do that dance in Gentleman’s Row,” says Mike. Their blue and green kit is based on the Enfield borough coat of arms. They use bowler hats because Enfield is in London, and the hats are covered in flowers, representing the countryside.

During the late 1970s and 80s, the group swelled to 18 members and could put out two dance sides at the same time. Colin Roker, who became headteacher of Winchmore Primary School, served as the side’s fool, whose role is to engage the audience. His son Aden joined Etcetera aged four and was featured dancing with the side on the BBC’s That’s Life programme.

In the early 1980s, some members’ wives and their friends formed a women’s group called the Enfield Chasers, who danced a different style from Lancashire called North West Clog Morris. Around this time, an English country dancing class was opened, and is still held monthly.

Today Etcetera has 13 active members aged from 43 to 81 and they perform regularly at The Wonder and Little Green Dragon pubs, as well as at Forty Hall, Capel Manor and venues in Hertfordshire and Essex.

So what keeps them going? “It’s fun,” says Mike. “We’ve turned up at pubs before, where effectively, we are the only ones there. But so what? It’s just fun.”

Another important part of it is the people. “Friendships develop over the years between us and other teams,” Mike adds.

The year of dance comes to a climax over the coming months with events in May and June.

Four dance outings in May include the Westminster Morris’ Day of Dance, where the side will dance in Trafalgar Square alongside a host of other teams, and Thaxted Morris Men’s Weekend of Dance, one of the oldest events in the Morris calendar, which involves a procession and “massed dancing”.

In June, a display about the history of the Etcetera Morris Men will be held at Ordnance Road Library, near Prince of Wales Primary School in Enfield Lock, where the side held their first-ever public dance 50 years ago. At the year’s second Day of Dance on Saturday, 14th June, the side will commemorate that anniversary in style at locations across Enfield that are yet to be revealed. Watch this space!

For a list of Etcetera Morris Men dates:
Visit etcmorrismen.org.uk/diary

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