Deptford Jack in the Green May Day, Friday 1st May

Deptford's Fowlers Troop take to the streets as always this May Day with their Jack in the Green procession. They'll be assembling at the Dog and Bell at 11am on Friday morning and setting off to Greenwich to end up at the Ashburnham Arms (25 Ashburnham Grove) by 4.30pm (via the Lord Hood, Plume of Feathers and Richard 1st pubs along the way).

The picture above was taken in 2006 to commemorate the 1906 photo (below) taken by Thankfull Sturdee. The Jack is the tall chap in the middle, dressed in garlands of leaves and flowers.

Perhaps because of their affiliation with the City of London Jack in the Green (whose troop like to cause mischief on a working day), the Deptford Fowlers Troop stick solidly to May Day itself rather than moving the parade to the bank holiday like other revivals of the tradition in Hastings, Rochester and Whitstable. Those weekend-long celebrations draw large crowds and include a lot more local residents dressing up and painting themselves green. However, the Deptford Jack is purportedly the tallest and heaviest of all the modern Jacks!

Catch 'em (or join them) 'dressing the Jack' on Thursday 30th at the Dog and Bell from 8pm. And if you're about on Friday, follow or join in the parade. Check the route here.

Local Spring events

The New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival opens today and runs every day till Sunday 4th May at various venues. In Deptford the extra special venues that make this festival special include Big Red Pizzeria, Old Tidemill School, The Bird's Nest, Deptford Lounge, Deptford Market and Vinyl café and record shop on Tanner's Hill. On the high street there'll be film showings at Honey's Bakery, Shades Snooker Club, Deli X and Gallop Workshop. Watching The Hustler in Shades and The Harder They Come in Honey's sounds just perfect. And that's just Deptford. There are outdoor bike-powered showings too... Download the programme here. To get a flavour, here's a short video of last year's festival...



This evening is also the last Friday in the month, so that means, as always, art galleries are open in and around Deptford and beyond. See www.southlondonartmap.com/events/last-fridays

Assembly, the group temporarily transforming the garden at Old Tidemill School (which was originally created by a Tidemill teacher living on Crossfields), are open every Saturday between 12 and 4pm for all things to do with growing food and gardening. There's a Free bike-powered film screening tomorrow, Saturday 26th April, and May Day Celebrations on Saturday 3rd May. On Sunday 4th May at 1pm, they're screening Ping Pong, a film about octogenarian ping pong players vying for a world championship title – followed by ping pong tournaments for the film goers (2-3pm).



Down on the river, a "rarely performed masterpiece" of Restoration post-Shakespearian tragedy drama (we had to look it up) can be seen at Paynes & Borthwick Wharf. Venice Preserv'd (written by Thomas Otway and brought to life by The Spectators' Guild) opened yesterday and continues till 8th June.

Tickets are expensive but concessionary tickets at £10 appear to be available from May 1st. According to the website, these tickets must be "accompanied by proof of debt in the form of a recent student loan letter, bailiff's letter, final notice or negative bank statement". Whilst this is profoundly insulting, we've got our obligatory negative bank statement and will be taking it with us when we go to see this "tale of corruption, friendship and love" next week – even though we think that the funding behind this extravaganza could have supplemented more reasonably priced tickets for local people without them having to plead and prove poverty.



Now we're onto pay-to-view rather than free shows, we'd like to give special mention to a show featuring partially sighted Crossfields resident Heather Gilmore. Extant presents The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco, with blind actors in the two main roles of an interpretation of this classic text. Tuesday 29th April - Friday 2 May, 7.30pm (£12/£10 and £5 for companions and supporters of disabled attendees).

Lastly, preparations are under way for Greenwich & Docklands International Festival in June. LIFT (the London International Festival of Theatre) will be presenting Deblozay, a "processional theatre show, with acoustic and amplified sound, choir and local participation, plus light, theatrical pyro and fire effects". And Crossfields will be part of it.

On June 20th & 21st at 9pm-ish, Deblozay will set off from St Alfege's Church in Greenwich, through Bardsley Lane and Claremont St estate to Norman Road, where it will cross the Ha'Penny Hatch and come into Crossfields estate at the railway arches at about 10.35pm. The spectacle will then move north to arrive somewhere near the Laban where there will be an outdoor bar until midnight.

Rehearsals on Crossfields will be on 19th June. We're not sure which 'locals' are participating since Crossfields residents were not asked to get involved, but nevertheless it promises to be a local event worth looking forward to – and it's free!

May Day – Deptford Jack in the Green

Deptford Jack in the Green 2011 © The Company of the Green Man
 

May Day is being celebrated by the Fowlers Troop and Deptford Jack in the Green with a procession from Deptford to Greenwich on the first day of May 2013.

Unfortunately May 1st is not a bank holiday, but anyone who is free on Wednesday is welcome to join in this pagan celebration.

Most of the route is on public streets, but between the Rose and Crown and the Star and Garter they will process through the Old Royal Naval College, and between the Plume of Feathers and the Richard I, they will process through Greenwich Park.

Dressing the Jack will take place the night before, Tuesday 30th April 2013 at the Dog and Bell (time to be confirmed). The schedule for May 1st is as follows:

12.00 Depart from Dog and Bell, 116 Prince St  London, Greater London SE8 3JD (pub opens at 11),
12.45 Rose and Crown, 1 Crooms Hill, Greenwich, London SE10 8ER,
13.45 Star and Garter, 60 Old Woolwich Rd, Greenwich, London SE10 9NY,
14.25 Plume of Feathers, 19 Park Vista  London, London SE10 9LZ,
15.25 Richard I (the Tolley), 52/54, Royal Hill, Greenwich, London, SE10 8RT,
16.10 Ashburnham Arms, 25 Ashburnham Grove,  Greenwich, London SE10 8UH.

Updates will appear on the web page: www.deptford-jack.org.uk/mayday2013
Details of what to wear and the tunes played are at: www.deptford-jack.org.uk/kitandmusic

In case you didn't know, that's why you've got a day off next Monday, although the May bank holiday (which was only created in 1978 in the UK) was nearly abolished by the new Tory government in 2011 because May Day, traditionally celebrated on May 1st, is also Labour Day, or International Workers Day, celebrated all over the world, and in a great many countries is a day off work on the actual day, with major public festivals to celebrate workers' rights.

Photo: Thankful Sturdee circa 1906

Many older readers will remember celebrating at school with a Maypole, Morris dancing and crowning a May Queen, as towns and villages all over the UK celebrated springtime fertility. May 1st is also the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, Catholic patron saint of workers, and a day off was given to farm labourers since seeding was usually done by this time. May Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltain and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. It falls exactly six months from November 1st, another day associated with European pagan festivals in the northern hemisphere.

There are May Day festivities being held all around the country, though many are now scheduled to happen over the bank holiday than on the actual day. It's a very big deal in Rochester and Hastings when each town goes a bit bonkers from May 1st-6th. The nearest is Rochester which does the Jack-in-the-Green on Wednesday, then has the Sweeps Parade on Monday 6th.

Fowlers Troop and the Deptford Jack in the Green procession to the City of London 2012 © demotix.com

 

Deptford's Jack in the Green lurking like a triffid in Royal Hill 2011 © 853 blog

Don't Move May Day!

The Government is currently running a “pre-consultation” on moving May Day bank holiday, potentially to October.

The consultation ends tomorrow Thursday 9th June. If you want to join in defending May Day click here...