An adorable four-year-old who became besotted with ancient folk tradition has become Britain’s youngest – MORRIS DANCER.
Little Harrison Brown goes out with his local team of dancers whenever he can and joins in with all the moves and jumps.
He has become so popular among the crowds the delighted Morris men have even created his own uniform so he can look the part.
Harrison now proudly sports his miniature-sized crisscross sash, rosette – known as a baldrick – flower-decorated hat and bells for his trousers.
But, despite the fact he is cannot yet become a fully-fledged dancer, the tot has his sights set firmly on the goal – and knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up.
Proud mum Christina, 42, said:
“He really firmly believes he is a Morris man now, there is not a single day that goes by that he doesn’t get all his gear on and practices.
“It is the first thing he says to me in the morning, ‘Can I Morris dance please?’ He wakes up singing the tunes and is always asking to watch it on the iPad.
“Before he even has breakfast he will have done at least two dances if not more.
“It is a true obsession.
“It’s at the point that if I’m in a restaurant or caf? with friends, he will get the napkins from the table and start twirling them, or he’ll get sticks from the park to bang together.”
Harrison added: “I love Morris dancing because I love dancing with the sticks and the cloth.
“I love Crumpet the horse (a plastic horse head the dancers use) and the Morris men are my best friends.”
Harrison first became interested in Morris dancing after spotting them performing in his local high street in Cheltenham, Glos., a year ago.
The besotted two-year-old refused to be dragged away from the spectacle and when Christina did manage to get him home began bombarding her with questions.
Just days later, while she was cleaning their home, Christina heard noises from the kitchen, and found Harrison had collected two rolling-pins and napkins to try to recreate the dance himself.
“He kept saying ‘I’m a Morris man, I’m a Morris man’,” the senior sales operations manager added.
“I started opening up YouTube on my iPad and laying it on the sofa for him to see, I realised he was pretty much copying them move for move.
“I did a bit of research to see if I could take him anywhere to see them and found out they danced every week around Gloucestershire.
“By this stage my mum had made Harrison a couple of bells on elastic for his ankles.
“When I took him to his first meeting with his makeshift uniform he was in awe.
“It was as if you had just met Madonna or something like that, he couldn’t believe he was next to real Morris men.
“As they started to perform he started to copy them and it just went from there.”
The mum and son now go to visit the Gloucestershire Morris Men every Tuesday when they perform, and have become firm friends with them.
Little Harrison helps out at local fundraising events when he can and proudly displays his dancing skills to use his “cute factor” to raise money.
Christina, a single mum-of-one, said: “They have been fantastic, the came to his third birthday and danced outside and got all the kids involved.
“He is just absolutely fascinated. I think the dancers are hoping he’ll grow up as in love with it as he is now.
“He has to be seven to join their practice sessions, they’re hoping he will because with his age he pulls down the average age of the group by about 50 per cent!”
Tony Poulter, one of the Morris men, said: “This lad, he just loves us and he loves doing the dancing. He’s like our little mascot.”
