Morris dancing..

We had morris dancers outside the Lamb last night. Does anyone really like Morris dancing beyond those who take part in it ?. The best that most non participants seem to be able to say about it is that it continues and preserves an english tradition. The morris dancers who were performing last night seemed to be mainly concerned with preserving the Morris dancing tradition of NW england. Problem is, how much of this is actually preserving a living tradition rather than reinventing it as was done with much of english folk music at the start of the 20th century and again by people connected to the Communist party like Ewan McColl and Karl Dallas in the 1950s, concerned with developing the idea of english folk music as part of a distinct working class tradition. I certainly dont recall hearing of any tradition of morris dancing as being part of any tradition in Silverton, unlike the Silver band which was a major feature of village life in the 19th century along with the annual performance of the mummers play. Morris dancing, like Church bellringing and trainspotting (The type done on stations, nothing to do with the famous novel by Irvine Welsh) seems to be the preserve of a particular type of english eccentric and not to have the sort of popular base associated with Irish and Scottish dancing and traditional music.