JOIN US
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Madder Mill Molly are a mixed gender team dancing the Molly style of Morris dancing, we welcome new dancers and musicians no previous dance experience is necessary.
We are an adult group but teenagers accompanied by an adult are also welcome.
MMM are a non profit group and are aim is for our members to learn and perform dances in public both locally and around the country. Practices are free until new members are competent to dance or play in public then a minimal monthly subs will become payable to cover running costs and hall hire.
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Practice runs from Autumn to Spring with the occasional practice in the Summer
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When you become a full member you will need to supply your own kit we have kept the kit simple so it can be purchased cheaply online and we do have some items available i.e. bowler hats and braces.
The team will resume practice in the Autumn, we hold our weekly 2 hour practices in Carshalton and monthly 4 hour practices in Balham, new members are welcome to attend either or both
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Weekly practices are held on Wednesday evenings 7:00pm - 9:00pm
at
The Garden Hall
Sutton Ecology Centre
Honeywood Walk, Carshalton SM5 3NX
The Hall has parking on site and is just a short walk from Carshalton Station and local bus routes
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Monthly practices are held on a Sunday 12:30pm - 4:30pm
at
The Music Room
St Mary and John Divine
Balham High road, London SW12 9BS
Just 2 mins walk from the station, limited parking at the venue and
parking also available in surrounding roads.
You are welcome to come along and try without any need for commitment​
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Please contact us to express an interest or find out more.
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PRACTICE DATES
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Weekly practice dates for Carshalton 2025
(2026 will be added soon)
8th October - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
15th October - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
29th October - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
12th November - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
19th November - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
26th November - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
3rd December - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
17th December - Practice, The Garden Hall, Sutton Ecology Centre, Carshalton @7:00pm - 9:00pm
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Monthly practice dates for Balham 2025 & 2026
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9th November - Practice, St Mary and St John Divine, Balham @12:30-4:30pm
7th December - Practice, St Mary and St John Divine, Balham @12:30-4:30pm
4th January - Practice, St Mary and St John Divine, Balham @12:30-4:30pm
1st February - Practice, St Mary and St John Divine, Balham @12:30-4:30pm
1st March - Practice - St Mary and St John Divine, Balham @12:30-4:30pm
29th March - Practice, St Mary and St John Divine, Balham @12:30-4:30pm
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OPEN PRACTICE
HOME
WELCOME
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2025/2026 Practice dates are now in our Diary
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As you can see from the photos we're having great fun, 2025 has been a busy and varied year so far. When we're not dancing we are working hard behind the scenes preparing for the new practice season begining again in the Autumn when we will be looking forward to welcoming new members for 2025/2026. If you would like to join us or find out more check out our recruitment details on our Join Us page do contact us with any questions.
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OCTOBER
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After our jaunts around the country during the spring and summer we now find ourselves on home turf with lots of local events this month.
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The first event of the month was dancing at the fund raising event for Wallington Animal Rescue aka WAR a local charity. It was a great day lots of stalls and entertainment and nearly £5000 was raised, well done everyone.
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​ September started off with a trip to Yorkshire for the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing, we had a great time at such a well organised and supported event.
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The we went out as our alter ego Murky Water Morris to bless the river Wandle as part of the Wandle Fortnight with PaganFutureFests performing a pagan blessing.
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Our last event of the month was the Southdowns Folk Festival in Bognor Regis our second visit to this lovely event.
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COMING UP​
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We have a very busy weekend coming up. Friday evening we are dancing at the Royal Albert in New Cross at their beer festival a first for us.
Saturday morning we will be at the Wallington Farmers Market a popular event as we also have the opportunity to buy some of the fabulous produce they have there. Then Saturday evening we will be celebrating the big birthday of one of the teams long time friends much drinking and a little dancing!
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The Gatherings documentary about some of the weird and wonderful traditions around our Island is now available to watch. MMM have been fortunate to be involved in several of the events in the documentary already and are looking forward to attending more.
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Check it out on the link below
Check our diary for the rest of the years events.
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WHAT'S HAPPENING
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Our first new dance for the 2025/2026 season is nearly ready, originally inspired by a creative moment back in May at the Burley Green Man Festival and prompted by an idea from one our newer dancers we now have all the figures, just a bit of tweaking is needed, a little more practice and we should be debuting it soom. We also have another special 'Winter' dance that's almost ready to get off of the ground, no need to worry about music for this one!
Some of our current dances are available to watch on our YouTube chanel.
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The link is available on our media page​
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RECRUITMENT
If you are interested in Molly dancing and would like to come along and have a try please contact us for details.
Enquiries are welcome from both musicians and dancers (no previous dance experience necessary).
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Check out our dairy to see some of the events we already have booked in for 2025
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PLEASE CHECK OUR DIARY FOR UP AND COMING EVENTS
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​We are still taking booking for 2025 although availability is becoming limited and our 2026 calendar is starting to fill up.
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Why start a Molly team?
While out at an event (dancing a different style of Morris) we saw a Molly team dancing, fell in love with the style and became eager to learn it. The Molly tradition has its origins in East Anglia/The Fens and although there are many teams in these areas, when we started looking we found that in the South/South East there are very few teams. These turned out to be not mixed teams, too far away for us to join or have remained true to the Molly tradition of dancing for only a few weeks during the winter (originally the ploughboys danced to earn money in the winter months).
With no local team to join, we finally realised the only way forward was to create our own team. We wanted to start a mixed gender team that would dance throughout the year. With this in mind we decided, like the more modern East Anglia Molly teams, not to keep to the custom of just dancing in the winter until Plough Monday.
Why Madder Mill?
We live, and practice, in the vicinity of the River Wandle, so we decided that a team name associated with the river would be appropriate. After much research we discovered that in 1790 there was a madder and snuff mill on our part of the river. We didn’t much fancy the ‘snuff’ part given the modern connotations of the name, but the madder and mill parts went well with the word Molly. As a bonus, the madder root was used to make red dye, so this made choosing a team colour really easy.
