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Every year on the first May Bank Holiday Monday, the whole village gathers around The Knoll to celebrate the rites of spring and dance around the maypole. The dancing is led by the children from Sherington School. The first photo is from 2 May 2005, whilst the second is earlier (possibly late 1980s).
The dancing is quite often followed by a race of some sort. For a couple of years it had been a fun run from The Knoll, down the High Street, up to Bancroft, to Perry Lane Sports Field, back down School Lane and Church Road to The Knoll.
This has been in the past followed by the Yard of Ale competition. The “Yard” is a long tubular glass vessel with a bulbous end that can hold two and a half pints of Beer, usually Charles Wells’s Best Bitter, and this has to be drunk in the quickest time (approx 13 seconds) generally by one of the young blades of the village.
Whil,st this is going on there are a number of concession stalls around The Knoll.
The dancing has not always taken place on The Knoll. The first of the following photos shows the event taking place next to the Village Hall. The date was before 1972, as the Village Hall extension had not been built. In the second photo (from the early 1900s), the venue was Baker’s Field. St Laud’s can be seen in the background.
SHS had a stall at the May Day Celebrations on 7 May 2007 on The Knoll to publicise its activities and various SHS items were on sale.
SHS had a stall at the May Day Celebrations on 5 May 2008 on The Knoll to publicise its activities and various SHS items were on sale.
