Steve
We have this silly antiquated form of joining called the overhead! a load of bees high wing and low wing all heading to one spot overhead the airfield at supposedly 2000 feet.
I was once downwind at 1000 feet with a 1400 foot cloudbase and one idiot cut straight through the downwind at 1200 feet stating he was joining overhead
From the overhead you then carry out several 90 degree blind turns mixing high and low wing aircraft just to get onto final.
It was a system developed when aircraft had no radios and were so poorly equipt that you needed to go to the overhead to make sure you were where you thought you were and could examine the signal box.
There are variations on the overhead as in your situation and on a busy active day it safer to follow the procedure.
No traffic do what the hell you want but do tell what you are doing
Pace