Morris dancers celebrate start of May with sunrise dance and parade in town centre

Lynn Morris dancers were up and ready to start celebrating at the crack of dawn.Members of the King’s Morris gathered at 5.15am yesterday morning at Knights Hill, to blow the traditional Lynn cow horns followed by a parade in town to mark the start of May.The group danced at Knights Hill as the sun came up, as it is the highest point in the area.

The Morris dancers put on a garland parade, starting at the Saturday Market Place in Lynn at noon with three dances – Shepherd’s Hey, Blue Eyed Stranger, and Constant Billy – before heading through the town.Before Morris was founded in the town in 1978 and became a Mayday tradition, a garland was paraded around the town in front of the children to represent the Virgin Mary. This year the garland was hand made by Tony Bellars who is a local artist.

Geoff Phillipson, chairman of the group, has been involved in the King’s Morris for more than 26 years.He said: “It is important to me to keep traditions alive in the town.“I find the dancing very enjoyable, I have been personally Morris dancing for 48 years.

Mark Warrell who is the treasurer of the group, said he is relatively new to this after joining in his 40s.He said: “I decided to join the group because I enjoy the sound of the music and the dancing is fun.”

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