Bromley Might Queens Crowning – On Saturday nineteenth April I went to Bromley to {photograph} the crowning ceremony of the Might Queens from Bromley Frequent and Shortlands in an occasion additionally attended by Might Queen teams from West Wickham, Hayes, Hayes Village and Hayes Frequent. That is the biggest of the Might Queen occasions earlier than the annual crowning of the London Might Queen in Might.
Though lately my pictures has largely been round protests, with the occasional stroll thrown in, again within the first decade of this century I used to be additionally photographing a variety of cultural occasions in London, together with a lot of non secular festivals and different celebrations. And one of many lengthier initiatives I engaged in was on Might Queen festivals in London.
Though I’d grown up in London and lived close to it for many of my grownup life (and nonetheless do) I had by no means come throughout Might Queen festivals, although maybe I could have seen among the previous newsreels from pre-war days I assumed they have been a factor of the previous.
In a submit written earlier in April 2008 I described how I got here to search out out extra and to begin a challenge which led to me discovering out extra and beginning a challenge on them in 2005:
It was the work of Tony Ray-Jones that first attracted me to Might Queens, together with his posthumous ‘A Day Off’, revealed in 1974 containing half a dozen of his footage from Might Queen festivals (although solely 4 actually related with Might Queens.) Considered one of these – actually the least attention-grabbing picture – confirmed round 30 younger ladies in three rows in entrance of a maypole, all carrying crowns. Regardless of the deceptive caption, ‘Might Queen Gathering, Sittingbourne, 1968’, in a later publication it was recognized accurately as an image of the annual London Might Queen pageant at Hayes, Kent.
Though I didn’t suppose it certainly one of his higher footage it struck me as an attention-grabbing occasion, and much more so after I went to {photograph} it in 2005, and began to lookup a bit of its historical past.
Finally I had sufficient footage to publish a e-book, and had been promised an exhibition at a significant museum – although this by no means materialised. The e-book, London Might Queens ISBN: 978-1-909363-06-9 continues to be accessible from Blurb, both as an costly print model or as a PDF, and the work has additionally been featured on different internet sites together with Lensculture.
Right here is the Blurb blurb: “2012 noticed the crowning of the London’s one centesimal Might Queen. The primary Merrie England and London Might Queen pageant was held in 1913 and it has continued yearly since. Within the Twenties and 30s it was a significant occasion, coated by cinema newsreels and competitions in day by day newspapers, however now it’s identified to few exterior the over 20 native realms that participate within the annual occasion. The 72 footage on this work give a singular perception into this neighborhood occasion.“
It’s value going to the Blurb hyperlink to see the intensive preview of the work, which incorporates all the textual content of the e-book in addition to lots of my favorite photographs from the challenge.
Women usually be part of their native Might Queen group at an early age and progress by the assorted roles within the group as they become older – and in the event that they keep lengthy sufficient change into their group Might Queen, after which they’ll be part of the London Might Queen group and equally progress to change into London Might Queen. In addition to practising for the pageant occasions the teams additionally produce other actions – and teas and many others.
The Bromley space Might Queens Crowning is likely one of the bigger occasions within the Might Queen Season, with a lot of native Might Queen teams processing by the centre of Bromley to Church Home Gardens subsequent to the Churchill Theatre the place among the Might Queens have been topped. The earlier week I’d been to a different occasion the place three of them had beforehand been topped and the next week there was one other crowning pageant in Beckenham every week earlier than the ultimate crowning of the London Might Queen at Hayes.
On the finish of the ceremony the ladies course of again to a church corridor for a tea, however I used to be too drained to go together with them and felt in want of one thing stronger.
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