MASSED Morris sides decended on the area as the 44th Forest of Dean Morris Dance Festival got under way.

The event started at Beechenhurst Lodge when all the visiting and resident Morris sides held a mass dance, before they set off on three tours of the area. These took place in Forest villages and towns, including a special visit to Bream, and which also took the teams to the Wye Valley and into south Herefordshire.

A similar mass dance, this time at the Dean Heritage Centre in Soudley, was followed by a performance at the White Horse Inn.

Two new Morris teams emerged with members of Bream Gardening Club celebrating their 150 years of existence by learning, and performing their own dance, appropriately enough called Bean Setting.

A very young new side danced at the Dean Heritage Centre. Children from Soudley School had learned a traditional Forest of Dean Morris dance, Soldier's Joy, from Ruardean.

The next performances by the Forest of Dean Morris Men take place tonight (Wednesday) firstly at the Old Ferry Inn, Beachley, at 8pm, and later at the Old Court Hotel in Symonds Yat.