In 1253 Henry III granted a Royal Charter for the holding of a May Fayre in Epping. There are few records of how this developed over the years however it seemed to have been held on a fairly regular basis over the following 700 years only dying out during the early part of the last century. The Friends of Swaines Green have now revived this tradition. On 1st May 2004 a first new May Fayre was held amongst the bushes and trees of Swaines Green. About 1500 people attended this event which had a tremendous atmosphere with a rural theme and with many local community organisations and schools taking part. In 2005 the event grew with more stalls and some 2,000 people attending
The Fayre was opened by Epping Forest M.P. Eleanor Laing who said how pleased she was to see so many community organisations working together in such a good cause. She then declared the Fayre open and introduced members of St. John's Church choir who sang a traditional May carol.
The arena, created with straw
bales was then given over to dancers from Chelmsford Fold Dance
Group who gave an excellent demonstration of folk dancing.
This was followed by maypole
dancing by the children of Coopersale Hall School
The animals are always a real
attraction
Even if not all of them are
quite what they seem
And the children love to handle
some of them such as these owls
Stalls included this attractive
one of woodland crafts
and some are traditional fun
stalls such as this coconut shy
We were delighted to welcome
Epping Forest Band who played beautifully for us.
The flower stall is always
popular.
We would like to thank all those people who supported our second May Fayre and made it such a success.