Our good friend and neighbour, Rick, popped round the other day with his 434 page tome covering the history of Morris Dancing in Trafford up to the Second World War.
Rick's meticulous research has unearthed a wealth of interest, and as old documents are further scanned and digitised, more information will be forthcoming.
Here's the synopsis provided by Waterstones:
Morris dancing was very popular in towns in Trafford in the 1920s and 1930s. Huge crowds turned out for lavish carnivals and pageants staged to raise money for health care. Amongst the main attractions at these events were dancing contests which drew in large audiences to watch morris and entertaining troupes from all over the North West compete.
Carnivals, Contests and Coronations is much more than a book about morris dancing. It reveals the story of the people who danced and those who organised the troupes. The local history of carnivals and Rose Queen festivals is considered in detail alongside the evidence for morris dancing.
Drawing on newspaper collections, archive material and film from the North West Film Archive, this is a well-illustrated and thoroughly researched book by an author who is both a morris dancer and local history researcher. It makes a significant contribution to knowledge of morris dancing in the North West and to understanding the early development of the Girls’ Carnival Morris movement.
Rick formed Shuffleback Press to publish the book, and he provides more information here. The book has received great acclaim from the Morris Dancing community and beyond. A particularly pleasing review came from a giant of the Morris Dancing world, Michael Heaney, who asserts 'Every student of morris should buy this book'. I am not one such student, but nevertheless I'm enjoying dipping into the content and reading about some of the characters and activities of the past.
Well done Rick. You have produced a masterpiece. It's available from here.
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