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