HISTORY was made when ‘local girl’ Karina Middlehurst recently performed with Lymm Morris at the village’s Rushbearing Festival.

It was the first time that a woman had danced the Lymm Dance with the traditionally all-male Morris team, accompanied by another lady, Ann Bolshaw on accordion.

As a ‘local girl’ for 18 years now and a Morris dancer with two other groups (including our other local mixed ‘Border’ group, Bollin Morris) she had wanted to dance the local Lymm dance for a number of years. Unfortunately it was danced by an all-male group.

Recently, however, many traditional all-male Morris teams have voted at their AGMs and converted to mixed teams. Although Lymm Morris and Thelwall Morris are officially separate teams, Thelwall Morris did this last year (http://www.thelwallmorris.org.uk/PR%20Oct%202023.htm).

Karina said: “For the past few years Lymm Morris have been looking for new dancers and musicians to keep the tradition alive, so now seemed like the right time to ask. There was no hesitation and I was invited to rehearsal the week before Rushbearing to learn the dance! I wasn’t the only woman at rehearsal, so Rushbearing was also Ann’s first appearance as a musician for Lymm. Ann also dances for the local mixed ‘Cotswold’ team Earl of Stamford Morris.
“I was a little nervous as I hadn’t practiced much before the dance, but it all went well. I might have been on the wrong foot sometimes, but mostly in the right place, so hopefully I never noticed! It’s a shame the dance is only performed three times a year. I can’t wait until Dickensian performs it again. Morris dances are all great fun – and great exercise too – I would recommend anyone to give it a try!
The Lymm Dance was intensively researched and revived by Thelwall Morris in 1980.
For further details visit lymm-morris.org.uk

Karina and Ann with Lymm Morris