Welcome

Hello and welcome to the website of Herring Gals Plus. We are a mixed Northwest Morris side from the port of Grimsby. The website has a list of events that we are dancing at and news about Herring Gals Plus as well as photos, videos and other stuff.

Herring Gals Plus are open to all. We are looking for enthusiastic people to join us each Wednesday evening, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm at

St. Christopher's Methodist Hall,
Welholme Road,
Grimsby,
DN32 9JA

You will be made very welcome. Sue, our dance teacher, will show you how to do the Northwest steps and will then slot you into our sets to learn the dance patterns. Come along and give it a try!

Herring Gals+

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Grimsby Morris website

Grimsby Morris

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Our next appearance :

Alford Day of Dance
Sun 28 Aug 2022
Confirmed, not finalised
We'll be dancing in Alford with the Wold famous Alford Morris, Grimsby Morris and possibly some others. More info when we get it.

Herring Gals+ News

Dance demonstration for Barrow WI

by Alison Robinson Tue 07 Jun 2022

On a beautiful, sunny evening in early June, Herring Gals + travelled to Barrow-on-Humber, to give a talk and demonstration to the ladies of Barrow WI.

Again, it was an exciting event for Herring Gals+ as the new dancers were fully represented. There was a happy buzz about the place as about 30 ladies arrived at Barrow Village Hall for the event. The echoing of bells and clogs on the wooden floor and people chatting added to the excitement.

Sue, our Dance Teacher, gave an informative talk about the origins of Morris Dancing. She also explained about the origins of our type of dancing, North West Morris. The ladies asked many sensible questions before we gave our dance demonstration.

The sound of the band playing and the clogs and bells was very stirring as it echoed around the hall. Again, our new dancers didn’t let us down. Well done to all of you.

The evening ended with members of the audience being invited to join in our last dance, the Abram Circle Morris Dance. There was much hilarity as the ladies tried to master the dance. We gave everyone, one of our leather badges to say thank you for being such a good audience and such good sports.

We were thanked for coming and invited to stay for a welcome cup of tea and a piece of cake. A successful evening all round.

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Queen’s Jubilee Dance-out at Fotherby

by Alison Robinson Sat 04 Jun 2022

To help the villagers of Fotherby celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Herring Gals+ and Grimsby Morris put on a display of dancing for them. The weather was a bit overcast and chilly but the appreciative spectators were well wrapped up.

It was an exciting event for Herring Gals+ as the team of six that danced was made up of four new dancers for whom it was their first outing with Herring Gals+. This was also the first time the men’s new kit had been worn. Our Seamstress, Sandy, had worked very hard making the waistcoats out of fabric that matched our dresses. The whole team looked very smart.

Both teams took turns to dance, and all credit is due to Dave, Ian and Nick, because they also danced for Grimsby Morris and so had to quickly don their waistcoats and take off their bells in order to dance the next dance with Herring Gals+. What energy they must have! Congratulations also to Jacquie, our other new dancer, who had only had about six practices and picked up the dances really quickly.

The afternoon ended with members of the audience being invited to join in our last dance. It was a pleasure to join in Fotherby’s Jubilee Celebration and their organising committee was really pleased with our contribution.

We had a new team photo taken and afterwards most members of both teams met up at The New Inn, North Thoresby, for a well-deserved drink and a bit of a sing-song.

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Waes-hal 2020

by Phoebe Jones Tue 28 Jan 2020

Waes-hal! Waes-hal!

On the 19th January 2020, Herring Gals joined Grimsby Morris Men for the 38th Lincolnshire Waes-Hal at Skidbrooke Cider Farm and later at The New Inn, Saltfleetby.This year had been warmer than previous years with the sun shining and no clouds to be seen.

We started off by performing Piper's Ash followed by May Dance. We then had a break so that we could join Grimsby Morris in their Waes-hal ceremony. We all placed cider-saturated pieces of toast onto the branches of the apple trees to promote a good harvest for the next year.

The Skidbrooke Cyder company is a small family run business owned by the wonderful Guy and Kate. Throughout the morning, the Skidbrooke Cyder Company was selling its products to all who attended the event. They loved it so much, they took some to The New Inn at Saltfleetby for them to sell.

We performed our final dance at Skidbrooke with the debut of Whitby Shindig. Despite previous unsuccessful attempts at practice, it was 'alright on the night', meaning there were high fives all round!

At the The New Inn, we performed Basque and finished with Abram. The event was a success!

This event included both teams dancing, singing, waes-haling and to finish off, the men sang and performed their Plough Play. The Waes-hal is my favourite dance out of the year because it was where I met my boyfriend 2 years ago (and still going strong!). We have come back each year to celebrate this occasion. We'd like to thank the Grimsby Morris Men for their continual support and especially the public for attending these events because without you all, it wouldn't have been such a great success!

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An evening with Great Coates WI

by Alison Robinson Mon 18 Nov 2019

On a very damp, November evening, Herring Gals received a warm welcome from the ladies of Great Coates WI. Our dance teacher Sue, gave an informative talk about the history of Morris dancing and the five traditions found in England. The team danced Prescot to illustrate the North West tradition. While the dancers got their breath back, musician Ken, explained about a French dance, Basque, that is also in the Herring Gals repertoire. The band then played the French tunes that accompany the dance.
Next, came Newton-le-Willows, one of our garland dances. It was a big moment for newest member Lisa, as it was her first time dancing out in kit ...and.... in front of her fellow members of the WI! We all applauded her performance. Our other new member, Verity, watched on. It will be her turn next!
Finally, the team danced Abram Morris Dance once through. Sue invited the ladies of the WI to come onto the floor and learn how to dance this. There were plenty of volunteers. Each was partnered with a Herring Gal. Much fun and laughter ensued as they tried to master the figures. The end result can be seen below. Some new recruits for Herring Gals perhaps?!

We ended the evening with much needed refreshments. Many thanks to Great Coates WI for inviting us. You are a lovely bunch of ladies. We hope you had as much fun and enjoyment as we did.

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Ripon Day of Dance 2019

by Liz Laister Thu 18 Jul 2019

On 6^th July, Herring Gals travelled to Ripon for their annual day of dance. We were very lucky with the weather, which was warm and sunny.
Teams met at the local watering hole, The Unicorn, for a bit of breakfast, before dancing both at the Cathedral and Market Square. Herring Gals had the pleasure of dancing alongside the Lancashire Wallopers (who were hilarious) and 400 Roses at the Cathedral, and then we and the Wallopers met up with our hosts Ripon City at the Market Square. Here we were brave enough to dance our version of a dance (7 pin) that was created by one of Ripon City’s musicians – no pressure!
Lunchtime took us to the ‘One Eyed Rat’ where there was a picnic lunch and more dancing. This time, we had the pleasure of watching Silkstone Greens and Lizzie Dripping together with the other teams that had joined us that day.
In the afternoon we danced at Kirkgate, followed by the finale at the Spa Gardens. What a beautiful setting for our show dance…but we were not finished yet! Ripon City Morris wanted a ‘dance off’ where we both danced the same dance at the same time. They danced ‘9 Men’s Morris’ and we danced ‘7 Pin’. We danced facing each other and it was so much fun to do! The crowd thoroughly enjoyed our different interpretations of the dance and gave us a rousing round of applause. We celebrated with tea and cake and relaxed in the Spa Gardens.
We were made to feel so welcome by our hosts and other teams. A thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all. Hopefully it won’t be long before we go again. Maybe this time we could have an ‘Abram’ dance off!

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