Centenary celebrations as proud Wellow stages another maypole dancing day

“There beneath me was a chap setting up a mini steam engine,” he says. “I thought wow, what on earth is going on?”

It soon transpired that the chap was one of many getting ready to take part in that day’s Wellow maypole celebrations, a community event that has been an intrinsic part of the Sherwood Forest village since 1836.

Proud villagers have been dancing around the maypole, crowning the May queen and generally having a good time ever since.

And so popular is the event, to be held this year on Whitsun Bank Holiday Monday, May 29, that it regularly attracts up to 3,000 visitors – a total about six times Wellow’s entire population.

"I knew absolutely nothing about it before I moved here,” admits Phil. “But I soon got involved and joined the maypole committee as a volunteer.

“I helped with things such as car parking and marshaling. Then about five or six years ago, they said they needed a new chair of the committee, so myself and my partner, Pippa Slater, agreed to take it on.

"There was no-one else, and the event was in danger of going to the wall otherwise.”

Under Phil, 55, who hails from Hull, and Pippa, 54, who is originally from Reading, the Wellow maypole event is flourishing.

So much so that this month’s renewal promises to be a momentous occasion to mark 100 years of recorded and documented maypole dancing in the village, which is a mile from Ollerton on the A616 Newark road.

As well as the dancing and the unveiling of a new May queen, Charlotte Baugh, elected by a secret ballot of Wellow residents, a packed programme of entertainment will take place from 12 midday to 5 pm.

Attractions will include live music, a children’s procession from the historic St Swithin’s Church, stalls and games, food and drink, Punch and Judy, a raffle and a tombola, street performers, Morris dancing and children’s swing-boats. The village’s two pubs, the Olde Red Lion and the aptly-named Maypole, are likely to do a roaring trade too.

Dancing around a maypole is believed to have started in Roman times when rural communities skipped around young tree poles to mark the end of winter and the prospect of fine weather that would allow planting to begin.

Maypoles were once common in villages all over the country, and schools would practise dancing around them for weeks before the big show.

Now Wellow is one of only about 60 places in England that still boasts a permanent maypole on its green, even though it has endured a chequered history.

According to the event’s archivist Janet Carr, the original pole was sawn down in 1860 amid a drunken spree.

In 1887, a new one was donated to mark Queen Victoria’s jubilee but, in 1921, it was accidentally set alight by a firework.

In 1937, its replacement was deemed unsafe and reduced in height from 60 feet to 20 feet. But again it had to be chopped down for safety reasons and a new one lasted only 16 years before it was damaged by a storm in 1966.

Finally, a decision was made to switch from wood to steel and a three-section tubular structure was purchased in 1977 with the help of a heritage grant.

Corrosion concerns led to its removal in 2011 when it was replaced by the current pole, which is 17 metres high and features an ornamental weathervane and cockerel.

Wellow’s maypole is now unique because it has 18 sides, rather than a round shape, and the village’s status as one of only a handful of places that still respects the tradition of maypole dancing is one that Phil and Pippa are keen to protect, despite their busy careers as project managers.

Even as we speak, Phil is busy building a stand that will sell programmes and display photos of previous May queens. And the maypole committee of committed volunteers devote hundreds of hours each year to keep the event alive.

"It is an event that everyone loves to attend,” says Phil. “It is really important to the Wellow community.

"It has been going on for so many years, and it is something we must not lose.”

Losing maypole day is unthinkable. But costs are rising and, as Phil admits, one or two years of bad weather washing out the event would put its future in jeopardy.

"We want to make it self-sufficient, and we are doing everything we can to keep it going,” he says.

"It is a free event, but our income stream includes stalls and a tombola on the day. We also do a lot of fundraising during the year through race nights, quiz nights and bingo nights, and we are pinning a lot of hope on a new community lottery.

"We are trying to break even, but without a generous benefactor, the money could disappear if we get a rainy day one year.

"Things putting the pressure on financially include the cost of closing the main road in the village for the duration of the event.

"Pre-Covid, it was £300. Now it’s £950, plus a further £605 to rubberstamp all the paperwork.”

Covid accounted for more frustration when the pandemic and lockdowns led to the cancellation of the maypole day in 2020 and 2021. It meant the May queen, Lucy Hollingworth, actually reigned for a record three years, with her successor, Ellie Wilson, waiting in the wings for that length of time too.

But the event’s return last year made clear that enthusiasm for it remains undimmed. Wellow might have a rich medieval history, with links to Robin Hood and even Richard the Lionheart. But it is primarily defined by its maypole and is determined to keep it that way.