Third time lucky hopes for Wellow Maypole Day organisers as event falls victim to pandemic again
A Nottinghamshire village held a subdued Maypole celebration on Bank Holiday Monday – but organisers say they have high hopes the annual event will go ahead in 2022.
For a second successive year the pandemic has led to the cancellation of Maypole Day in Wellow – traditionally the highlight on the village’s social calendar.
It means May Queen-elect Ellie Wilson will now have to wait a further year for her coronation.
But despite the cancellation of the showpiece event, determined members of Wellow Maypole Committee past and present gathered for a socially distanced afternoon tea on the Maypole Green to mark the day.
Janet Carr, of the committee, said: “We held an afternoon tea to commemorate what would usually be a fantastic occasion, and had an extra delight of the surprise appearance of local musician Tony Wade, with his Elizabethan pipe and tabor and a harmonium, to give an impromptu concert of English folk tunes by the maypole.
"He entertained the gathering, and the customers outside the nearby Red Lion, for half an hour, before a photo call with the May Queen-elect, Ellie Wilson.
“Ellie has now been patiently waiting to be crowned May Queen for two years, and so, together with the Maypole committee, is keeping her fingers crossed that it will be third time lucky in 2022.”
Wellow Maypole Day will be slightly different next year due to the planned national celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, meaning the event will now take place on Saturday June 4.