Morris Dance Performance

The Vine Inn in Tarring is hosting a Morris Dance Performance on Tuesday 5 January 2027, starting at 8:00pm. It's a Wassail, a traditional winter custom that's usually about singing and drinking to bring in a good harvest for the coming year, and this one brings the Morris dancing into the mix.

If you're not familiar with the term, Wassailing is an old English tradition that usually happens around the winter solstice or the New Year. It's traditionally done in orchards, with people singing to the trees to wake them up and encourage them to fruit, but it's just as often celebrated in the pub. This performance takes that tradition and puts it on the High Street in Tarring, with the dancing as the main event. It's the kind of thing that feels right for a cold January night — a bit of old-school folk tradition brought indoors.

Morris dancing itself is one of those things that's often associated with summer village greens, but it's just as much a part of the winter calendar. The performance is billed as a Wassail, so you can expect the dancing to be the centre of the evening, with the whole thing taking place at The Vine Inn on the High Street in Tarring (BN14), within Worthing. It's a local pub setting, so it's more of a community gathering than a formal stage show.

It kicks off at 8:00pm on Tuesday 5 January, so you've got plenty of time to get there and settle in before the dancing starts. If you're around Tarring that evening, it's a good excuse to pop into the pub and see a bit of local folk tradition in person.