Recruiting morris dancers

The survey asked several questions about the number of new recruits had joined each side in the past two years and their characteristics. The definition of recruits provided to respondents was ‘those that were new to morris dancing, and are still active in the side’.

​UK sides have had an average of 3.2 new recruits join their sides in the past two years, which equates to around 2,500 new members nationally. The numbers of new recruits varies considerably between sides in different organisations and of different dance styles. Sides in the Morris Federation had the highest average number of recruits per side, with 3.3, while sides in the Morris Ring had an average of 2.8 new recruits per side and Open Morris 3.1. Border sides attracted the highest average number of new recruits, recruiting nearly five new members per side.

The average number of recruits per side has increased from previous surveys, which found that sides recruited an average 2.6 new members in 2014, 2.9 in 2017 and 2.7 in 2020.  The number of recruits per side in the Morris Ring has risen particularly, from 1.8 in 2014 and 2017 to 2.1 in 2020 and 2.8 in 2023. This is likely to be related to the 2018 amendment to the Morris Ring constitution, in which all references to gender were removed.

Indeed, the proportion of new recruits in Morris Ring sides who are female has increased from 4 per cent in 2014 to 41 per cent in 2023. More generally, two thirds of recruits across all sides nationally, which is contributing to the shift to women being the majority in members in morris sides.

The age of new recruits has also been steadily changing. Recruits tend to be younger than the average side member, but not considerably. The average age of a new recruit is 45, lower than the average age of members of 56.

Just under half (43 per cent) of new recruits are aged 50 or over, while only 23 per cent are aged under 30. The average age of new recruits has risen from 41 in 2014 to 45 in 2020 and 2023. This has been the case across all three morris organisations: between 2014 and 2023 the average age of recruits has risen by three years among sides in the Morris Federation, by two years among sides in the Morris Ring and seven years among Open Morris sides. 
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UK morris sides use a range of different methods for recruiting new members. The most commonly used recruitment methods are word of mouth (77 per cent), social media (63 per cent), giving leaflets to the audience when performing (51 per cent) and recruiting friends (47 per cent). These are the most active and direct forms of recruitment, which target people that are most likely to already have an interest in morris to encourage them.

More passive indirect forms of communication that tend to be focussed at a larger and broader audience, such as TV or radio, tend to be less favoured by sides but are used by some. Around a fifth of sides (19 per cent) use some form of family recruitment, whether it is siblings or children, but much less than friends.

The recruitment methods sides cite as being the most useful are the active methods that have a personal touch (word of mouth, recruiting friends and using social media) whereas passive and indirect methods such as adverts in local publications are considered to be less useful. Only four per cent of sides find that advertised open days are the most useful method.