On Saturday we went to Rowans preschool for a May Day celebration. It turned out to be a lovely day which wasn't forecast so that was a pleasant surprise.
The boys wore their mayday crowns and ran around enjoying the wonderful space at the school. The school has just had a new climbing frame built, which is just fantastic, everyone (adults included) is loving it!
The cake stall was a huge success with Reuben, it was just the right height for him to go and grab just another cake!
Rowan running with a may day wand.
Under the climbing frame there is a little house.
Then the maypole was ready for the dancing, most of the kids are aged under 5, so it was definatly not perfect weaving but beautiful to watch nontheless!
Rowan had originally said he didn't want to join in, but after the first round he picked up a ribbon and off he went!
After the childrens dancing we decided to have a grown ups dance with more intricate dancing/weaving (?!) It was interesting! Again not perfect weaving but good fun!
On Sunday we woke to beautiful blue sky but very cold wind. It was Bolster Day in St Agnes, which is the telling of the legend of the giant Bolster who lived upon the Beacon with his wife. The giant made his wife carry rocks up and down the beacon all day, everyday so he could throw them off the top at villages nearby. The villagers had had enough of the giant eating their livestock and throwing rocks at them, that a succession of people tried to beat him, all to no avail. Until a young girl called Agnes came along and tricked him into letting out his blood, then he died and Agnes was made into a saint and now the village of St Agnes is looked over by her.
Through the village the Giant, Agnes and others parade, they then proceed along the cliffs to Chapel Porth beach where they act out the story.
We made our way to the beach in the early in the afternoon to make sure of a parking spot. We had a couple of hours to wait, so we went down onto the beach. Chapel Porth is a lovely beach with lots of caves and rock pools. Reuben was the first into the pools and was naked within about 5 minutes and Rowan followed soon after. The wind was so cold down there that people were walking around the beach with full winter gear on, big coats, hats etc, and there were my boys completly naked splashing in freezing cold rock pools!
Reuben did get cold very quickly and then just wanted to cuddle, but Rowan was quite happy pouring and splashing!
Then we heard the drumers coming down the road to signal it was time to get to the top of the cliffs. Everyone followed the drummers and found a spot to sit.
The charcters came over the cliff and re-enacted the story. The giant was amazing, a great big puppet, with one man inside and another 4 to hold him up. To walk around on the cliffs is hard enough let alone when you have a giants body on your head! (my camera battery was almost dead so I couldn't zoom, but you can kind of make out the Giant!)
It was great fun, the kids loved it, both boys sat entranced as they acted the story. The atmosphere was fantastic, and when the Giant died everyone cheered! Rowan has been talking about the Giant and poor Mrs Bolster ever since!
What a lovely way to start May, a summer of fun, sun and special times here we come!
