The Malkin Morris Dancers, a northwest clog morris team formed 7 years go and based in Roughlee, entertained us in March 2024, accompanied by the excellent musicians – The Roughlee Ruffians.

A talk was given by Virgina Crewe, who’s ‘claim to fame’ is her skirt fell off at her first event! We learnt that nobody knows for sure where morris dancing comes from, and traditionally it was men dressed in long white trousers and waving hankies when dancing, with women occasionally dancing over the years. However, the Malkin Morris ladies specialise in local dances named after the town of origin, i.e. ‘The Blackburn’, ‘The Burnley’, ‘The Clitheroe’, ‘The Whalley’ and others. The dancers perform maypole dances, and two dancers gave an impressive demonstration of step dancing, where the clogs have no rubbers.

So, if you want to have fun keeping fit, enjoy dancing to keep a tradition going and meeting new people (heading to the pub for a beer after all that exercise!), please email familycrewe@hotmail.com or phone 07887 844025.