History

A brief History

Glorishears of Brummagen are a women’s morris dance side from the Birmingham area. Glorishears is the name of a hankie dance from the village of Bampton. Brummagen is an old colloquial name for Birmingham.

The side started in June 1978, the first meeting took place at The Bulls Head, Bishopsgate Street, Birmingham. Attending there were seven keen would-be dancers. They met at country festivals and competitions and came up with the idea of forming their own side. The first public appearance was in May 1979 which was a pub tour. The early kit was very seventies with culottes and a waistcoat with the distinctive roundel representing the cogwheel of Birmingham’s industries. In 1981 Glorishears joined the Women’s Morris Federation. The kit was revised to it’s present form in 1983 to coincide with their 5th Birthday celebration. they hosted the Morris Federation A.G.M. in 1986.

Glorishears dance traditional English dances with sticks and hankies taken from a few Cotswold villages:- Bidford, Bampton, Stanton, Harcourt, Adderbury and also the occasional Border dance from Pershore. From time to time we also perform dances from the Welsh Borders which are characterised by their more boisterous presentation and are often accompanied by whooping and hollering!

In forming Glorishears we were following the tradition started by Mary Neale who tought the Esperence Girls’ side. Women have allways been involved in keeping the Morris alive either by noting down the dances or taking part while the men were away at war. Morris has been danced for hundreds of years and is thought to be older than 15th and 16th century references to the dances.

The Morris is said to bring good luck and passing the hat around onlookers can share in that!

New Kit Design News

Lottery Award for Birmingham Morris Dancers In July 2001 Glorishears of Brummagem were very pleased to announce that they had received an “Awards for All” National Lottery grant. The award has enabled them to work in partnership with the University of Central England to design and make a new kit.

The present kit has been in existence for about 18 years and the team felt that it was time for a change. A competition was staged where students were invited to research “the Morris” and present the team with designs based on tradition but meeting the needs of the 21st Century. This competition did not form part of their course but had to be done in their own time. Three individual winners each received a cash prize and a substantial donation was made to the University through the grant to help fund the materials and equipment for course work.

Members of Glorishears picked the most suitable design and lecturers from the University are now helping the team to turn it into a workable kit. The remains of the grant will then be used to pay for fabric and the dancers will be busy with their sewing machines with a view to launching the new kit in summer 2002. Part of the grant money was also used to pay for vital equipment for the team. As part of their grant application the team showed how they worked with the community in terms of providing displays and workshops for groups such as Guides, Scouts, Townswomens Guilds, special schools and various charitable events. Their contribution towards the grant was calculated in terms of members time, both in dancing and in making their new kit.