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The ladies morris dance team, Betty Lupton's Ladle Laikers, was formed in 1977 - the year of the Queen's silver jubilee. The kit of the dancers reflects the national colours; red tights, white smocks and blue dresses with black shoes and bell pads. The team took its name from a local character from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, who was responsible for ladling out the medicinal spa waters to the visitors to the town during the 19th century. She was based at the pump room, now a museum, where you can still sample the waters and see a model of Betty Lupton.

Morris Diary - see where we are performing and other teams in the area.

Flickr

Claire's pictures of some 2008 & 2009 danceouts

Pictures of Evesham 2009

Pictures of Saint Wilfrid's Procession 2009

The Dances We perform a wide range of English dances inspired by various morris traditions. Some of our dances come from the north west of England, the Cheshire and the Lancashire Plain. These usually take the name of the town of their origin. So, we have dances called, Failsworth, Lostock and Abram. Also included in the repertoire are some new dances written by the team based on traditional figures and style. These have generally been given local names, hence Hookstone Hey and Skipton Road. We use a variety of "implements" to accompany the different dances; short decorated sticks, hankies, garlands and shakers. One of our dances, Mona's Delight is quite different in style; it originates from The Isle of Man. Heather, Sue & Maggie

Heather, Sue & Maggie
Claire
Claire's first outing
6/6/07

Anne
Anne's first outing
4/8/07

Each year we nominate a specific charity to support and donate a proportion of our funds. Charities previously supported include:- The Carers Resource, Roundabout (Talking Newspaper), Macmillan Fund, St. Michael's Hospice, Cystic Fibrosis, World Wildlife Fund, Cancer Research, British Diabetic Assn., Goodrick Appeal, Martin House Hospice. At Christmas we dance in Harrogate Market Square, to entertain the Christmas shoppers and support the Save the Children Fund.

 Sue & Su The picture on the left is Sue and Su on their first outing 8/6/11 and on the right, Corrina at her first dance out 13/6/18   Corrina

The Music The band is made up of a variety of instruments to give a loud and colourful sound, especially important for outdoor entertainment. Each tune set is carefully selected to complement the dance.

Pictures of our Weekend of Dance 2007

Pictures of Saint Wilfrid's Procession 2007

In 1992, 1995 and 1999 we attended the Fete des Fleurs in Luchon. Pictures. This is Harrogate's twin town situated in the Pyrenees in the south of France. The festivities finished with a grand parade through the town with many flower covered floats, bands and dancers. Harrogate and Luchon were twinned in 1953, their similarity being that both towns flourished because of their spa facilities. Luchon offers a variety of medicinal cures, bathing and a recently opened water bottling plant. Although Harrogate no longer offers the range of treatments that were available at the turn of the century, we still have an excellent turkish bath and medicinal waters. It is now possible to buy bottled Harrogate Spring Water.

In 1998 (and again in 2009 and in 2016) we visited the North West Coast of America as guests of Vancouver Morris Men & Tiddley Cove. Report and pictures

In 2003 we visited Transylvania. Pictures

We are members of the Morris Federation, an organisation which coordinates and promotes Morris Dancing and together with Ripon City Morris Dancers we organised the Weekend of Dance and AGM in 2002. MF Logo

If you would like further information please do not hesitate to speak to a member of the team, or telephone :-
Anita 01765 620441
or email

Morris Dancing Teams in the Ripon & Harrogate District

Morris Dance Database

Yorkshire Garland