Sunday, May 07, 2006

Knutsford Royal Mayday 2006

Hi again folks. Sorry for the longish silence. Anyway. Saturday 6th May was Knutsford's "Royal Mayday".


Now this has nothing to do with Mayday as such, but I thought you might like to see some cherry blossom across the road from our house.

And also some in our back garden. And yes, that really is a wind turbine you can see over to the right. Made from bits, including an old bike dynamo. Together with a small solar panel it provides lighting and radio-power for my shed and greenhouse. But I digress...

As I was saying, Saturday 6th May was the Knutsford "Royal" Mayday festival. For those who don't know about it, this is the town's most significant annual event, dating back to 1864. On one occasion many years ago, it was allegedly attended by HRH. Hence the name. On the first Saturday of May a procession makes its way through the town's streets, ending up on the Heath (ie the common), where the "May Queen" is crowned by the "Crown Bearer".


Knutsford's main square - Canute Square - taken the previous evening, before the cars are ousted and replaced by parade characters and crowds of spectators.


Oh Yeah! (Oh Yea! actually). The Town Crier is always near the head of the procession. Closely followed by


Jack in the Green. Or local lad disguised as a Leylandii.

Hard on their heels comes a varied and colourful array of characters. Some examples:












The Sedan Chair is indeed occupied, by the way. Well he could at least look as though he's enjoying it, don't you think?


Now I never did see any Celtic connection with our very English town, but there always seem to be bagpipes involved somewhere along the line. Not to worry though, because there are no sound files in this posting! Come to think of it, the crown-bearer wheres a kilt. Odd that. Still, I suppose it's supposed to be a microcosm of our actual royalty.


Penny-farthings, bone-shakers and other forms of suicidal two-wheeled transport have become a regular feature over the last decade or so. "Suicidal" particularly here, at the top of Adam's Hill - the steepest hill in town. (Knutsford is not like the rest of Cheshire in that it isn't as flat as a pancake). I don't think they have brakes, by the way.

Now, first-time visitors to England - England mind, not Britain as a whole - may be alarmed by a chance encounter with one of these.


This is known as a Morris Troupe. [Note added 31/07/2011: NO IT ISN'T!! I wrote that in my days of ignorance - some 4 years before I actually joined Ringheye myself (note the extra "e", btw) as apprentice accordionist. The official term is Morris "side". Occasional use of the alternative description "team" is, I believe, almost acceptable! But "troupe" would have been enough to get me drummed out of the Morris Circle, had I been in it to start with!]

The principal function of its members is to hop and skip around in circles in the middle of the road wearing silly outfits with bells on, occasionally waving handerkerchiefs in the air and belting each other over the head with a dwile flonking stick - or somesuch. Very good they are at it, too.

And here's another one:


You see? The country's full of 'em. In fact we have some good friends who are in the first morris troupe pictured above - Ringheye. I was only teasing back there, because they are actually very talented, and put on a great show.

Then there are Dixielandish (or maybe that should be Dixie-outlandish) bands like this one
.



And horse-drawn floats ...



pirates ...



You name it.



Any child (or adult, come to think of it) is eligible to join in the procession, but the May Queen herself must reside within the town's boundaries.

It is naturally extremely popular with the children, but also very much a family tradition amongst Knutsfordians. For instance, when he was a lad, my Dad paraded as one of these "Beef-eaters" (Yeomen of the Guard):


So did I in my turn, and eventually also my son Pete.
Another favourite was "Grace Darling" and her father, in the life-boat.


Both David and, in his time, Grandpa Wilding, have played the role of Grace's Dad. When I was little I always heard the name as "Grey Starling". I could never understand why there wasn't a bird to be seen anywhere in it!

David and Peter used to take part regularly - until it became seriously un-cool to do so, of course. The oddest choice of character was given to David one year - a native American. That was really convincing - him with his whiter-than-white blond hair and blue eyes!

Now here's a very important local "hero":


Edward Higgins. AKA Higgins the Highwayman. From about 1756, Higgins became one of the town's most colourful - if shadiest - characters, who doubled as a gentleman and a trickster. There are numerous tales about him, some no doubt apophrycal. Whether or not he really was a highwayman, he certainly had an adventurous lifestyle, though. He was eventually caught and subsequently hanged, I believe, at Carmarthan in 1767. (Incidenatlly, there is an interesting biography of him at http://www.cheshiremagazine.com/Archives/higgins.html).

After the Proletariat - the walking characters and the floats - comes the "Court". The big-wigs of the procession. Assorted "dignitaries" etc. They tend to travel in state coaches

except for the poor old (well young) Crownbearer and his guards! They actually walk in front of the Mayqueen's coach:


The CB is the lad at the back there, with the crown on a cushion. See what I mean about the tartan connection, by the way?

And finally, the May Queen herself. She's the one in the red cloak:


While all this is taking place, Knutsford Heath (famous a few years back for "The Battle of") is also playing host to what is probably the Northwest's biggest amusement fair...





The fair usually arrives a week or so in advance, and stays over a long week-end from Thursday to Sunday. However, because this year the official Mayday - ie 1st May, which is a public holiday - fell on a Monday, the fair has been here a week or so longer than normal.




Hmm. Now what did I once say about an ice-cream vendor in Mauritius? Something about Jingle Bells? ..... Maybe I'd better take it all back!












The Royal Mayday festival is totally non-commercial; apart from the fair and the occasional brewery dray which - let's face it - doesn't really count, does it?


So there you have it.

And, a propos of nothing in particular, here's a photo of Knutsford Little Theatre where I tend to spend quite a lot of my spare time.


And just as a tail-piece (err - on second thoughts, maybe not an appropriate term...), meet one of my gardening chums. Photographed just the othe day.



Ta-ta for now.