A REMARKABLE morris dancing wheelchair user is stunning audiences wherever she performs.
Lorraine Pickering, a member of Arborfield-based Borderline Morris, was among the dancers at an evening hosted by Hurst Morris People (HuMP) at the Jolly Farmer pub, Hurst.
HuMP’s squire (chair) Christine Taylor said: “We had a great welcome at the Jolly Farmer and it was fun dancing with our old friends Borderline.”
Two days later Lorraine, 56, who lives with multiple sclerosis, danced as a guest at Strictly Brackley, a charity fundraiser near Milton Keynes last Saturday.
She was thrilled to receive a mini glitter ball and to meet the event’s judges, including former BBC Strictly dancer Flavia Cacace-Mistry and Graeme Hall of Channel 5 TV’s Dogs Behaving Very Badly.
Lorraine said she encourages other wheelchair users to join her doing morris dancing.
In 2022 she met Borderline, having had no success with joining other morris sides.
“I asked Borderline and they said, ‘Absolutely, yes’,” she explained.
“I was so overwhelmed, I’d finally got one (I could join).
“People are surprised to see me dancing, they say it’s fantastic.
“Some of our dances are very fast with the others’ legs flying, but I’m good at moving between them.”
An active and determined woman, she said her world fell apart when she was diagnosed with aggressive remitting relapsing MS in 2014.
But she went on to join Twirlers, a wheelchair dance group.
She continues with the group, now called Wheelz in Motion.
They’re a ‘thread’ off Olympic GB of wheelchair dancers waiting to become Paralympians.
She started ballroom and Latin dancing this year.
Lorraine is a former member of the Royal Navy reserves and a former Royal Marines cadets detachment commander, a rare achievement for a woman.
Her dance name is ‘Loopy’, an old Navy name.
Borderline’s bagman (treasurer) Dave Bolam, said the side welcomed disabled people.
“We’re open to everyone, and are looking for musicians and dancers,” he said.
Borderline meets in Arborfield Village Hall.
HuMP is holding free taster sessions at Hurst Village Hall on Thursdays, September 18 and 25 at 8pm for everyone to have a go at morris dancing or playing in the side’s band.
For information, visit: borderlinemorris.com and hurstmorris.org
