2022 GMF 5 – Jack & Jill & Sunshine

What an absolutely fabulous day – again! It left the town buzzing for days. We’ve been swamped by positive comments from every corner, the incredible dancing, lovely venues, the town packed out with thousands of visitors, a highly entertaining mummers’ play, a fantastic atmosphere, busy shops, cafes and pubs and all topped off by incredible weather. As always the event could not have worked without a great bunch of dancers and musicians – 24 dance groups this year, (about 240 dancers), 27 market traders and of course our team of 30+ volunteers. Thank you all. We introduced our new logo courtesy of artist David Lawrence, an early morning Waking Jack ceremony at the Tithe Barn (thank you the Preservation Trust), and our Stripping Jack at the end of the day was supported by a large crowd who enthusiastically reduced Jack to bare bones. Several pubs hosted live music and the French session encores kept them playing for over two hours longer than scheduled. The wonderful Kaboozle samba drummers were very popular – dynamite rhythms.

We believe we achieved a world first by having a 10’+ giant Jack in the Green reflecting a 150 year old tradition of tall green figures created by the chimney sweeps AND a wonderful petite Jill in the Green harking back 250 years to the original tradition started by milkmaids who collected gifts in buckets carried on their heads. A big thank you to BoA’s Man Shed for helping to construct Jack. He’s now putting down roots in a local garden, next door to 2021’s Jack so they can chat over the garden fence.

We nearly had to cancel the whole event because of funding issues (indeed our whole future was threatened) and it took a lot of effort to get an affordable Plan B together so we are really pleased to report that we made a profit on the day, enough to guarantee our future. Thank you to everyone who threw a few coins into our collecting buckets, every penny made a vital difference.

Reviews here from visitors, dancers and traders.

Photo Record

If you have photos or videos of the day please email them in so we can add them here.

Armaleggan video – Jack’s Awake!

Colin Rayner Photography Please acknowledge Colin’s copyright if any of these images are used.

Wiltshire Times review and photos.

Whats on Bristol Magazine report.

Jill in the Green’s photos.

Anna Collier

Beltane video 1

Beltane video 2

Beltane video 3

Hoppy & Chris.

Ian Baker

Knights of King Ina photos

Knights of King Ina video

White Horse photos

Kaboozle Samba Band

General photos – 1

General photos – 2

2022 Supporters