SEE 'diamond dancers' in West Bay this weekend.

Wessex Morris Men are stepping out to celebrate 60 years of morris dancing.

Established in1957, the Wessex men are marking their 60th Anniversary weekend Friday to Sunday, September, 8 to 10 with a weekend of dance and activities based from the village hall in Cerne Abbas. ?The weekend will begin with the arrival from Friday tea-time of invited morris sides Helier (from Jersey), Dartington (Devon) and Whitchurch (Bucks) and guests from other teams who will take supper before retiring to the Giant Inn and Royal Oak pubs in the village for informal music and song sessions. ?On Saturday, September 9, the company will depart Cerne Abbas in coaches to tour the area, with scheduled stops at: 10am to 11am – Dorchester – Cornhill/South Street, 11.45am to 1pm – Abbotsbury – Ilchester Arms, 1.30pm to 3.30pm – West Bay and 4pm to 5pm – Cattistock – Fox and Hounds.?A ‘feast’ for the invited guests will follow at the hall in the early evening after which they will again retire to the Cerne Abbas village pubs. ?Activities on Sunday, September 10, will centre on Cerne, beginning with a morris-based church service between 9.45am and 10.30am.

The visiting sides have then been invited to dance at around 11am on the trendle atop the Cerne Giant, home of Wessex Morris Men’s May Day celebrations, conclude the weekend with dancing in the village from 12.15pm.

Wessex Morris Men welcome new recruits, so if you are reasonably fit (or would like to become so) and would like to learn morris (or can already dance), go along to one of their weekly practice sessions between September and April.

Practice is on a Monday evening at 8pm in the village hall in Pulham, opposite the Halsey Arms.

Contact the team via the website wessexmorrismen.co.uk. On Facebook see: Wessex Morris Men or on Twitter @wessexmorrismen