Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross to see a fine lady upon a white horse and so it was that we gathered outside The White Horse for our annual event to celebrate the unique Banbury Hobby Horse tradition. Three Adderbury Village horses, twelve dancers, two musicians and our guests Adlington Morris (no horses but a beautiful unicorn badge) from Cheshire, all enjoyed the day.

As we made our way off through the town we stopped briefly for a photo with two noble elephants standing on guard duty outside a local restaurant. Then we danced around ‘the fine lady’ at Banbury Cross and on through the town to the market place where we invited all comers and Adlington Morris to join us for a mass Shepherd’s Hey – always a crowd favourite. 

We finished our dancing outside the oldest pub in the town, The Reindeer, much to the delight of the staff of the nearby Hairdressers shop who offered to manicure our beautiful horses.  And so for the delight of ‘The Fine Lady’ we gave her a carnival of the animals…. horses, elephants, unicorns and a reindeer…and much more.

John writes: We had a great day’s dancing in Banbury. The sun shone and the crowds were pleasantly surprised, as always, to find the ancient art of Morris dancing occurring on the streets of their home town. Today we were joined by a fine Cotswold side from Cheshire, Adlington Morris, who were on their autumn tour of the area. We were also joined by a new recruit, who had done some dancing previously in the Bristol area and who quickly picked up our unique style. Thanks to our two musicians and 12 experienced dancers, not to mention our jockeys and three hobby horses.

She shall have music (and dancing) wherever she goes. Thanks to all involved.

Donald

AVMM were delighted to be welcomed once again to the wonderful Sibford Applefest. This lovely annual event is part village show, part music festival and principally, I suspect, a chance for local families and friends to meet up to share news and enjoy each other’s company on a warm autumnal afternoon. Of course, the main event is the crushing of many thousands of apples and the miraculous production of hundreds of bottles of delicious freshly squeezed apple juice, some of which we sampled, along with an excellent cold collation at the end of our hour or so of dancing and horseplay.

Ryan led the side with considerable aplomb, selecting dances matched to the fitness and age levels of our dancers, whilst also encouraging members of the audience to join in where appropriate. As it happens we found some very talented dancers from near and far in the crowd, including a Cotswolds dancer from the NW of England, who had more dancing experience than anyone in the current AVMM side. With only six dancers in kit, due to some unforeseen late absences caused by illness and injuries, our team performed without anyone taking a break. Elijah once rode Charlie the horse for Shooting with a guest taking his place in the side. Otherwise it was a minimal team of just six dancers and Donald as our sole musician. To all of whom I am most grateful. Thank you to the organisers and for the invitation to dance again this year. We love this event!

Anyway, we had a lot of fun today and made plenty of new friends, some of whom we hope will join us once the 2027 practice season gets underway. Next week (10th Oct) we meet outside the White Horse Inn on North Bar Street in Banbury at 11.15am to celebrate the old Hobby Horse Festival. I suspect that, once again, we shall be the only Cotswold side dancing in a town where according to legend the Puritans once frowned on such frivolous activities. After that we dance at various locations around the town as our Squire decrees.

John Ekers