THE sword dancer took a swig of liquor and passed his hip flask to the man on the doorstep.

As they exchanged pleasantries, members of the Goathland Plough Stots, the oldest traditional longsword dancers in the British Isles, joke and skip a jig on the snowy drive. The red-coated fiddler bounces to the beat of an old folk song.

Villagers and the odd tourist urge them on as they “dance the village”.

One householder gives them hot dogs, another silver for the charity box and a third a nod and a wink.

It was the Plough Stots’ first outing of the New Year at Goathland in the middle of the North York Moors National Park. The day before blizzards had threatened to postpone the dance and the day after the A169 to Goathland was closed due to heavy snow.

The remoteness of the village could go some way to explaining why the Plough Stots have survived and other teams that were once in every community have died out.

Plough Stots stalwart and honorary president Keith Thompson explains: “In the late 19th century, dancers used to go from house to house, dance, knock on the door and if no money was put in the box, they threatened to plough your lawn up because the only income they had was by dancing until the hiring fairs.

“We collected money for health care vouchers. There were plough stots in every village. All the teams have gone. We are one of only two left in North Yorkshire.”

Their oldest records go back to 1854 and the other team is in Flamborough.

The teams, who wear pink to denote the old Whigs and blue for the Tories, are made up of every trade imaginable. Keith is a retired company manager in training and construction and the rest of the 50- strong troupe include an electrician, a retired bank manager, a retired public relations manager, a fireman and a joiner. Some of them have been dancing for the Plough Stots since they were children.

In years gone by, actors performed a play alongside the dancers and to this day, though the acting has died out, the dressing up is still part of the performance.

Keith wears a tatter coat made of long strips of old cloth and he is accompanied by “t’awd man” (the old man) and “t’awd woman” (the old woman).

But the make-up of the Plough Stots is about to change for the traditional all-male Goathland team is now training girls and women to ensure the tradition survives.

And for that daring, the veteran Plough Stots have been excommunicated from the Morris Ring, the National Association of Men’s Morris and Sword Dance Clubs and one of the last bastions of male domination.

What does Keith say to that?

“Not a lot. I couldn’t care less. Over many years, the girls in the village schools have learned to dance the Goathland long-sword dance but they were never allowed to dance with the men’s teams. We took the view that if we wanted to survive, we might as well start training girls if that’s what it takes to keep the tradition going.”