Dear LPG,

You have to live in the northern hemisphere to appreciate the idea of nature’s promise of warmth, sun and greenery that accompanies Mayday each year, although we in the UK have Michael Foot to thank for making it the stay-at-home bank holiday that we have now had in England since 1978.   The problem is that this last year has been one long stay-at-home holiday that many of us are looking forward to seeing the end of, so I want to focus on a different aspect of this beautiful day in May; assuming that it is all sunshine and light this year (I wrote my thoughts about a month in advance).  The Maypole.

One of my memories of the big day, before we could celebrate in a bank-holiday at-home style, was the dance teacher of my class at junior school being ‘driven up the pole’ as we children spent lots of time in preparation, learning to dance around one.  The main highlights of our version of the dance were not that successful.   All that ‘undering’ and ‘overing’ with the ribbons was something that a bunch of 10 year olds were never going to get right.   I think that we spent more time ‘undancing’ our mistakes in our attempt to unravel the knots that doing it the wrong way created while our class teacher had us move one at a time in order to insure that the knot at the top did not get any worse!

Then again there is the other significance of the phrase.  I suppose it is all a case of if you speak French or not.   Our distress experience came long after the decision made in February 1923 when the official telegraphic distress call sign for ships and aircraft changed from SOS to Mayday or should I say ‘M'aidez’ which is the French way of asking for help.

I don’t think any of my grandchildren even know what a Maypole is, and it is now far too late for me to give them a practical demonstration of what you were supposed to do with one.  It is something I can’t do alone and these days I can’t really move fast enough to make one successful orbit round a maypole let alone get the ribbon sequence right and, even if it were a tradition that is still popular, covid-19 and social distancing would have put pay to any chance of the children being able to practise it this year.  Thank goodness for the internet where I found a few memories I would like to share. 

Whichever aspect of the day comes first in your mind; poles, distress or the promise of a good summer, I wish all readers a really happy Mayday today. 

PM, Downham

PM offers us information about the history of Mayday and the poles that used to feature.

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… the dance…

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…and the distress call…

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