MORRIS Men and photographers clicked on an enjoyable evening in Dorchester.

The Wessex Morris Men held an event at the Colliton Club to try and attract new members.

As well as bidding to recruit future members, the dancers found themselves the centre of attention for a pack of photographers.

Wessex Morris Men publicity officer Mike Phelan said: “Dorchester Camera Club meet at the Colliton Club on Mondays and I let them know that we were coming to dance out of politeness “When we turned up there seemed to be a photographer for every morris man.

“They took pictures from every possible angle, kneeling, crouching lying on the ground, from windows above in the club.

“They were a really great crowd and the result is a fantastic pictorial record of our night in Dorchester.”

Mr Phelan said the turn out in terms of potential recruits could have been better, but admitted the group was up against some stiff competition and was confident that the event had helped to spread the word of its activities.

He said: “We didn’t get loads of people turning out to try morris - but we were in competition with major sporting events such as Wimbledon and the World Cup – but we got fantastic media coverage in the Dorset Echo, on radio and television.

“We have now done two events where we are spreading the word that we need new dancers and we are getting some enquiries as a result.

“We are still confident of recruiting some more new people when our practice season starts in earnest, towards the end of September.”

The evening in Dorchester finished on a high note with the Colliton Club treating the dancers and musicians to hot chips and the Morris men finished off the evening with songs and music in return.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Wessex Morris Men can visit their website wessexmorrismen.co.uk to see where they are next dancing or email Mr Phelan on wessexmorrismen@btinternet.com