Wait for the Green Man

Green Man Fayre 27th August 2007. An explanation is necessitated in order to understand why I called the event such. Firstly, I wanted to personalise the fayre, by naming it after a book I had written. That may have been a bit too auspicious for most people’s liking since it transpired that the allotment committee was antagonistic towards much of what I am doing on-site. It is a wonder that as the creativity and fun increases on the allotment site as a whole, so does the presence of community and tradition mutually enhance themselves, and what better way to see it than in the presence of a green man in an area once noted for its coppiced woodland and green lifestyles. There was even a Green Man public house not a stone’s throw from here many decades ago. It is precisely this tradition that I am trying to evoke. Saying that, the book by the same name took on a familiar cry of death and rebirth cycles. It was entirely pertinent that I should dress up as the green man, since this year I had embodied this spirit in its most extreme forms.

As usual, we were stretched. The lovely yurt was set up and this was graced by the Purple Broccoli Theatre Company. The kids continue to paint it up. At the entrance Steve the metal worker set up his anvil and gave a demonstration later on during the day. But there was fairly a low turn-out, maybe a hundred, and because of that we actually made a small loss. A lot of hard work by myself to keep a tradition alive. Thanks again to Dave for all his help. As usual the apple press was set up, and Ken worked diligently on the oven. Thanks to Mathew who made some digeridoos using old packing tubes and bamboo, and Mark opposite who supplied the bees wax for the mouthpiece. Mathew, the lifeguard at my local swimming baths, soon became a policeman after that. And I hear that Mark the beekeeper is still a gas man. It’s amazing what other lives people live.

If only I had more help for I could have done more on the cooking and set up the green woodworking, or done a little cob. Alas, it seems that tradition is on a losing note sometimes. Whether this event happens in 2008 remains to be seen. But it may only happen if the rest of the allotments would like to get involved.