Ancient Mummers tour Jericho

’twas the Saturday before Christmas Eve, and so The Ancient Mummers performed the Holton Play in these pubs of Jericho, Oxford:

7:15pm The Gardener’s Arms
7:45pm The Harcourt Arms,
8:15pm Old Bookbinders,
9:00pm Rickety Press,
9:30pm The Victoria,
10:00pm The Gardener’s Arms (reprise)

It was a splendid evening and the generosity of our audiences has resulted in a collection of over £300 for Helen & Douglas House, the Oxford children’s charity. Many thanks to the publicans and customers. Merry Christmas!

Happy 90th Birthday OUMM!

On 17th October 1926, Oxford University Men’s Morris (OUMM) was officially established as a self-governing body. Immediately prior to this, much of the Morris in Oxford University seems to have been centred around the Oxford Branch of the English Folk Dance Society (EFDS). For more detail, delve in to “OUMM and its background.” by Roy Judge.

We celebrated the side’s founding at our 90th Anniversary Feast on the 25th of November 2016.

Below are some historical photographs from the OUMM archives, taken in 1926.

This photo is dated 2 June 1926.

Dated ‘Easter 1926’, (early April), GTF is Geoffrey Fiennes.

Geoffrey Feinnes reported this event in his diary: “8 May – The Heather Festival. This took place on the 5th day of the General Strike and it was very difficult to keep the Morris Men together while so many of their friends had gone off to do emergency jobs.”

OUMM Star in ‘Stealing Sheep’ Music Video

Over the Summer, dancers from OUMM, Oxford City Morris Men, and Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers filmed a music video with Stealing Sheep for their new song ‘Apparition’.

Here is the finished video – complete with hitherto unknown feats of athleticism by certain chaps…