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
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NOVEMBER
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Where has the year gone?
We welcomed this month with a tour of London's South Bank as guests of Saddleworth Women's Morris & Clog, unlike our hosts this was on our doorstep we had a great day out and the sun shone just until we were finishing up.
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 and 2026 is looking good too with invites to both new and favourite events already.
When we're not dancing we are working hard behind the scenes the new practice season is now underway and we are looking forward to welcoming new members to our free open practices. 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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September and October turned out busier than expected with events from Yorkshire to the South Coast and lots inbetween.
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COMING UP​
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We've had our AGM for 2025 lots of lovely event invitations for 2026 already. It's practice for us now we nearly have our next new dance ready to dance out and are polishing up couple of dances we haven't danced for a while will be revived.
Our next dance out is at our local Farmers Market and a mini tour of Balham.
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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.
