I had to get up very early at 5am in order to get to Magdelen Bridge in Oxford in time to hear the choir singing from the college tower.

There wasn’t any problem finding directions as there were already lots of humans heading the same way, so we just followed them all!

There were thousands of humans everywhere, we didn’t get onto the bridge but could still see the tower from High Street.

The choir started to sing at 6am and sounded wonderful…

After the choir had finished we managed to meet up with the tree (Jack in the Green) and the other Oxford Morris Dancers. I then followed the tree along the road…

We eventually reached Radcliffe Square…

The Morris dancers started to dance…

I joined in and managed to keep to the beat!

There were lots of other Morris dance groups there too, they are known as Morris ‘Sides’ and they all took turns to dance.

The tree started to move again so I followed and we ended up at The Bridge of Sighs for more dancing.

Once again I joined in. I am too short to join the human dancers but I am quite happy doing my own thing on the sidelines.

My human’s daughter is an Oxford University Morris Dancer. Here I am with my human and her daughter.

Here I am with the sword that is wrapped in greenery with a ‘fertility cake’ impaled beneath it. People were offered small bits of the cake. The sword and cake are said to symbolise both protection and fertility, and eating a small piece of the cake, made to a secret recipe is thought to bring good luck and fertility.

A Morris Dancer put his splendid hat on top of mine, but it was a tad heavy for my little head!

The sun was getting rather bright so I borrowed my humans sunglasses for a while. You may notice a new badge on my baldricks. It is a teddy bear and and says ‘I love Archie’. Earlier a Morris Dancer told us all about Archie, a bear who belonged to the poet Sir John Betjeman, and gave me the lovely badge.

Some excellent clog dancers also performed. I don’t think I could keep clogs on my feet!

My tummy was beginning to feel like breakfast after being up for nearly 4 hours!

Fortunately it was soon breakfast time and we all headed to Linacre College.

I tucked into a full English breakfast with a small tankard of ale. All the Morris dancers carry tankards about with them for their ale, I brought my own bear sized one along with me for the occasion.

The dancing continued after breakfast outside the Rose & Crown pub.

I started to feel tired and rested with a large glass of apple juice and soda water.

We decided it was time to go and get the train back to Bristol, where I promptly fell asleep having had a really lovely day in Oxford…

Horace the Alresford Bear 3/5/2025