Open Morris Member Sides

The Jersey Lilies began life as the Jersey Ladies Rapper Team, and was formed by the WAGs of the newly formed Helier Morris.  In 1978 we shared a musician with Helier, were coached by one of their side and started off by learning dances in the Cotswold tradition.   Very soon we had our own musician, and so through our contacts with English sides we started to expand our repertoire, became independent and changed our name.    We then became The Jersey Lilies and our kit also underwent several transformations, finally becoming the black and red that we now wear.  Some of us have been with the side since we became Lilies, and  we think this demonstrates the health benefits of Morris Dancing!  We do have younger members in the side as well.    Our repertoire is made up of a a broad range of dances including Cotswold, Border, North West and Jersey, the latter being our own creation as there is no Morris tradition  in Jersey.  We like to perform a variety of dances, so if we see a dance we like and we think it will suit us we learn it.  We practise in the winter and after our twelve hour May Day of dance (a spot in each of Jersey’s twelve parishes) and we then dance out every Wednesday evening. This is  at various island locations as well as the many other events that we are invited to. We love our dancing and are a very happy and friendly side.