Crowning the May Queen at Kingsland

The May Day celebrations took place every year at Kingsland Road Infant School in the early 1950s. The May Queen and her attendants would be chosen from the “top class” of the infant school (7-8 year olds). The celebration was held in the school hall where a raised stage was built for the queen’s throne. The other three classes prepared some form of entertainment which took place in the hall after the queen and her attendants had processed in and took their place on the stage. This celebration took place in the afternoon of 3 days in the first week of May and parents were invited to attend. I also remember making garlands for our heads out of coloured tissue paper and covering fruit baskets (used by the greengrocers in those days to display soft fruits) with similar paper and filling them with flowers and these were presented to the May Queen.(Baskets and garlands seen in photo.) I also remember we gave a maypole dancing demonstration. Photos were taken by the school photographer and it would be nice if we could find someone who still had a photo of the May Queen.