The ladies from Windsor's own all female Morris dancing team made their television debut last week.

The Windsor Morris team had been filmed and interviewed for the documentary For Folk's Sake: Morris Dancing and Me, which covered the decision by the formerly men-only organisation The Morris Ring to change their constitution to allow member teams to include women.

In the apparently peaceful happy world of folk music and dance, there are strong views about what constitutes ‘real’ morris dancing and one man in the film expressed the opinion that women are displaying a ‘Pound Shop copy’ of morris.

Shirley Dixon from Windsor Morris said: "This is very much a minority view now. But in the 1970s when Windsor Morris was founded, it was common to encounter quite violently-expressed opposition.

"A woman’s place to many men was as support services to men’s activities, not to be enjoying herself and revelling in the fun and comradeship of working with a team to display the energetic dances of English tradition. The film concentrated on the men’s teams and their decision but Windsor Morris were shown quoting some patronising opinions from those times and demonstrating their very athletic style of dancing."

Windsor Morris perform every summer in the town at local pubs and at festivals and gatherings further afield. Their next dance tour in Windsor will be on May 11, when they will be joined by guest teams from Kent and Abingdon.