Now the bright morning-star, Day’s harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.”
John Milton, Song on a May Morning, 1660
The extraordinary lateness of Easter this year and the preponderance of bank holidays have delayed the magazine publication date this month so in only a few short weeks there’ll be the June edition coming out. But that doesn’t mean we have less material, fewer events, just that you have less time to read and absorb it all.
Of course the month began with the Spring Fair and that’ll be over by the time this edition hits the shelves – and who knows how it will have gone. Successfully we hope because it’s our single biggest fund-raising event of the year; enjoyably too because on the whole, give or take a few aches and pains and the occasional crisis, it’s usually quite good fun. But I’m not tempting fate by assuming anything!
And there are plenty of other events this month [mainly on Wednesdays, as it happens]. On Wednesday 11th May we have our first Flower Workshop – this one concentrating on how to interpret famous people in flowers. Come with ideas or come bemused – it starts at 3pm [later than originally advertised] and everyone is welcome. There’s no charge and, unless we have huge numbers, we’ll meet in the choir vestry. Whilst our plans for the Flower Festival in 2012 are progressing nicely we do have a budget to pay for the flowers and are in need of someone with fund-raising skills. Please let me know if you could help – [email protected] because without money it can’t happen!
The following Wednesday [18th] at 1pm we have the next in our series of Lunchtime events – a Literary Hour ‘Poets tell Tales’ featuring popular romances, ballads and other stories in verse.
On Wednesday 25th May we have the BBC Singers recording a concert at 7.30pm. The BBC assure me that tickets will be available on their website soon if they aren’t already.
Looking ahead to 1st June there’s a Lunchtime Concert featuring Laetitia Stott, French horn and Peter Foggitt, piano and then hassock mending at 2pm. When we first began mending hassocks under Barbara Thomson’s watchful eye more years ago than I care to remember it seemed somewhat akin to painting the Forth Bridge – it was going to go on forever – once we finished the first ones would need mending again. But I’m happy to say that is not the case and that, slowly as we are progressing, I begin to believe that there will come a time when we will actually finish the job. And the new loops, rings and backing are proving very durable – the first ones done show no sign of wearing out. Thank goodness.
We’re rather a small group, we meet on the first Wednesday [a Wednesday event again] of the month starting after the lunchtime concert [about 2pm] and carrying on until 5 o’clock, though the full 3 hours aren’t obligatory, you can come later or finish earlier. Great sewing skill isn’t required – it’s pretty basic work – and all materials are provided. Why not join us? A few extra hands might mean we finish by – well, let’s not exaggerate how well we’re doing – maybe by Christmas. And wouldn’t that be nice.