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THE WESTERLY MORRIS MEN, A BRIEF HISTORY
Written by Founder & Squire Peter Leibert
Edited and embellished
by Webmaster Norm Dudziak
The Westerly Morris Men dance team was founded by Peter Leibert in 1974. Peter first started Morris dancing at the age of six in his mother’s kindergarten class in [Scarsdale, New York?]. He continued on to teach at the Berea Christmas Country Dance School in Kentucky for several years, then taught Morris, sword, and country dancing at Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts for 16 years, as well as doing workshops in the Northeastern U.S. Peter was among the founding members of the Pinewoods Morris Men and is listed in their history, which says "Peter Leibert, a skilled dancer and gifted musician, was elected Squire at the 1968 Ale."
Morris Dancing in Westerly, Rhode Island began in the mid-nineteen seventies as part of a country dance series taught by Peter Leibert at the Westerly Center for the Arts, whose building is now named the George Kent Performance Hall . Two dance teams developed from this weekly series: The Westerly Morris Men (WMM) and later Mystic Garland, spear-headed initially by Loraine Utter, Joan Nickel, Jane Leibert, and Carol Ansel.
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George Utter, original founding member and Bagman (Secretary/treasurer), organized and helped finance the first trip to Saddleworth, England in 1980, with a return trip in 1983. During these two trips, the WMM performed in the Rushcart Festival as invited guests of the Saddleworth team. Following these two trips, wives of the WMM and others established the Mystic Garland Dancers. Along with "pubbing", a highlight of the first Saddleworth tour was the culminating church service, where all Morris musicians provided music for the hymns. Father Kenneth Loveless, quite an amazing character, was the preacher. The church was conveniently located next door to a pub. Sheila Wertheimer was responsible for arranging living accommodations through her brother John who was a resident of Saddleworth. While there, Westerly was housed in the Outdoor Pursuits Center, a comfortable accommodation that afforded bunk beds, full kitchen, common room, and showers. |
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During both the 1980 and 1983 tours we were invited guests at the annual Morris Ring meetings and weekends (#180 and #198) at Thaxted. Leading up to this weekend and following, Westerly took part in many tours, trying very hard to behave, which was difficult at times. Westerly performed at the Sunday Thaxted church service performing Bledington Cuckoo’s Nest accompanied by pipe and tabor which echoed magically throughout the "cathedral". Westerly spent many memorable evenings with Arnold Woodley's Bampton Morris Dancers. It is interesting to note that at the time of the WMM's visit, there were two major sides, Arnold Woodley's team, The Traditional Bampton Morris Dancers, and Francis Shergold's team, The Bampton Morrismen.
Westerly has been fortunate on all of our foreign tours to be hosted by truly wonderful teams and their families, all of whom opened their homes and hearts to the Westerly travelers.
In 1982, Westerly hosted Arnold Woodley’s Bampton team to the U.S.; his team had graciously hosted us during the 1980 tour. Bampton arrived in Westerly where our team hosted a large feast and ceilidh at the Center for the Arts followed by a week of touring, dancing, and singing. Spirits soared even at Sailfest in New London, CT where torrential rains failed to dampen our enthusiasm, especially since Juggler Meadow and other teams joined us.
In 1986, Westerly hosted two Morris teams from Edinburgh, Scotland: a men’s side called Lothians Morris Men and a women’s side called Jenny Geddes Clog Morris. Morris dancing in Scotland? These were primarily English people who had moved north and wished to continue their traditions. We again hosted a feast and ceilidh at the Center for the Arts during a busy weekend of activities, all in conjunction with Mystic Garland.
In 1987, our new friends from Scotland invited us over to tour, so we did. They hosted us for 2 weekends in Edinburgh and we spent the weekdays touring further north in Scotland and south into the Lake District of England, where we were hosted for several days by the Banchory Morris Men and Carlisle Sword & Morris, respectively. Westerly attended the Edinburgh Tatoo at the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade on August 15 in the pouring rain and a wonderful concert by the Boys of the Lough the following weekend. See the “Scotland trip” tab for lots more on that trip, including very many photos plus the itinerary.
1994 was Westerly’s last tour of England, returning to many of the small towns and villages where we previously danced. Westerly also made many new friends and visited areas in the southern part of England where we had not danced before.
Locally, Westerly’s activities and performances included many tours and ales, including the Canterbury Fair in New Hampshire for many years, Marlboro Ales through 1983, the Suds, sponsored by the Binghampton Morris Men, Pinewoods Ale, and the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA) most years through 2014. The Juggler Meadow Morris Men joined us on numerous tours and we enjoyed attending many of their Harvest Ales in western Massachusetts. In fact, a Harvest Ale was the last multi-day Morris ale that the team attended, circa 1988. Westerly had also been included in the Connecticut Commission on the Arts erstwhile "Art Directory of Performers", which yielded the occasional gig.
As well as touring and doing many performances over the years, two regular annual events run by us continue to occur: For the Vernal Equinox (first day of Spring) the WMM dance at dawn on the cliff top of Lantern Hill in North Stonington, Connecticut. Westerly continues to dance on May Day at Connecticut College in New London, CT, an event started by Peter Leibert in 1974. There are two other regular annual events to which we are grateful to have been invited for many years: We get to dance on stage for up to 20,000 people in the pre-show of the Chorus of Westerly's outdoor "Westerly Pops" concert held each June in Wilcox Park. Caswell Cooke also invites us to perform in the Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night show he produces each year at Misquamicut Beach in Westerly.
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