Logo Wheatley... as never before!

Wheatley always used to be one of the cotswold morris traditions that women's sides used to dance back in the seventies before they realised they could actually do whatever they liked. As such, it was largely ignored by the coarser morris elements until as recently as 1990 at the Hotel Diplomat (the once and future Central Hotel) on West Canal Wharf, Cardiff.

A recent foreman and re-emigre, Nigel Guzek, was visiting from Bristol. He brought Trunkles with him and the side was so smitten with the dance that it went practically straight into the repertoire.

The dances have been developed and refined over the following years to the point where, on dancing in North Devon in the spring of 1997, our host side, Bideford Phoenix, requested an instructional on our version of Wheatley later in the year. This was duely given, to a warm and enthusiastic audience. What follows here is taken from the notes for the instructional written and collated by our Foreman, Peter Weston.

The Tradition
o General Description and Figures
o Eight-Man Wheatley
The Dances
o Trunkles
o Room For The Cuckoo
o Greensleeves
o Rigs Of Mallow
o Bobbing A'Joe
o Banbury Bill
o Constant Billy

o Return to Traditions and Style... page.

© Cardiff Morris 1996