“Truly remarkable in that every dance is a sepia print in motion.  Worth a journey to see them.” - Folk Icons website.

 

“I fell in love at once with The Old Glory Molly Dancers from Suffolk; the men, lumbering about joylessly with their blacked faces, farmer’s hats and hobnail boots, the lord and ‘lady’ of the dances (both male), and the (female) band, black from head to foot except for their hands, and great wreaths of evergreen around their hats and hanging down their backs.  There was something wonderfully unsettling and funereal about this group.  And I was amused to see the frightened looks on children’s faces as they first passed where I stood.”  - visitor to the Whittlesea Straw Bear festival, 2006.

 

“I agree with you about Old Glory.  My husband said they really capture the essence of what Molly is all about, the darkness and not speaking.  And they don’t perform at any other time of year.  We make special trips to see them.” - Annie Dunn.

 

“Possibly the strangest experience I’ve ever had in my life.” - John Peel, BBC Radio 1.

 

“Dance macabre:  Suffolk troupe revives rural tradition of the menacing Mollies.  Looking sinister is essential.  Not for nothing are they called ‘Morris dancers with menace’.” - The Guardian

 

“Old Glory have been recommended to me as a ‘Must See’ side.” - Phil Sigournay

 

“They made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and they were so solemn I couldn’t help crying” - Whittlesey shopkeeper (Straw Bear Festival, 2007)

 

“Daddy, I shall have nightmares!” - very young spectator at The Locks Inn, Geldeston (Winter Solstice, 2007)

 

“I think you’re the scariest thing ever.” -  assistant in the tea shop at Snape Maltings (December 2007)

 

“You’re scary - and it’s not even Halloween” - Leiston Police (January 2008)

 

 

What people say about us