It all started in 1955 with a group of young men who had been dancing as students with the King’s College Morrismen. They found themselves with nowhere to dance when they graduated and left college. They gravitated towards an evening class being run by an ex-Kingsman at the Grammar School (now Marden Bridge Middle School).
Soon the group were joined by locals and from this wealth of established traditional know-how, expertise and enthusiastic talent, there emerged the Monkseaton Morrismen and the Folk Dance Club.
The team, particularly in the earlier years, was made up of young free and single people that were able to commit often quite significant amounts of time to go on dance tours. The team therefore rapidly developed an international reputation.
Major Tour Dates of the Past
| Year | Destination |
| 1960 | National Festival of the English Folk Dance and Song Society- Royal Albert Hall |
| 1962 | Folk Dance Festival for the Blaydon Race Centenary; Opening of Coventry Cathedral |
| 1962 | Norway |
| 1964 | Germany; Shakespeare’s 400th Birthday celebrations, Stratford on Avon |
| 1965 | National Festival of the English Folk Dance and Song Society- Royal Albert Hall |
| 1967 | France and Czechoslovakia |
| 1969 | Sidmouth Festival; Brittany and Central France |
| 1970 | Mid West of America |
| 1971 | Royal Festival Hall, Edinburgh International Festival. |
| 1972 | Teeside Eisteddfod (First Prize Winners) |
| 1973 | France |
| 1974 | Norway |
| 1975 | National Festival of the English Folk Dance and Song Society- Royal Albert Hall |
| 1976 | Holland |
| 1979 | Bavaria, Yugoslavia, Holland |
| 1980 | France (Sancerre) |
| 1982 | Hong Kong & Bangkok (Easter) Belgium (Summer) |
| 1983 | Sidmouth Festival |
| 1984 | America, North Carolina |
| 1986 | Bavaria |
| 1988 | Spain (Basque Region) |
| 1991 | Bavaria |
| 1992 | Italy |
| 1995 | France (Sancerre) |
| 2000 | France (Sancerre) |
| 2003 | France (Chateau-sur-Allier) |
| 2005 | France (Sancerre) |
