Lymm May Queen Festival

Recording Lymm May Queen history ...

Over the past few years, the Lymm May Queen has seen such difficult times.  One event, almost washed out by torrential flooding  - just as the procession was starting.  This led to it being cancelled on the morning due to a waterlogged field  - and in 2020, the impact of coronavirus.

There have been other challenges in the past too though. The event originally started officially in 1889 (though there was also an event in 1888) as the Bands of Hope Festival run by the local churches - a sort of early "Churches Together".  Unfortunately by 1906, one by one, the local churches, both C of E and non-conformist, withdrew, leaving the Congregationalists (now the United Reformed) to run the event.  It seems there were a few lean years but it did keep going with local traders stepping in to manage the occasion.  It was an important source of revenue, advertising as far as Runcorn and Crewe.

Every year in the programme, from 1948 onwards,  we see a list of May Queens from when the event restarted after WW2.  But the Centre would like to fill in the gaps from all those early years.  It would like to bring together a document that records ALL the May (and Rose) Queens.  A hard task, but if someone has already done this or if such a list exists, we would really appreciate a copy for our records.  Even if you know of individual ones PRE-1948 or you would like to get involved in tracking down the details of all the May Queens, please get in touch with us at thelymmarchive@gmail.com

In the meantime, enjoy this collection spanning many years.