I can’t believe it’s May already, unfortunately we can’t make the ‘Obby Oss’ May Day celebrations in Padstow today – hoping the weather stays dry for them! More locally at Ekopod we’re looking forward to the May bank holiday weekend which is only 3 days away now! Over the weekend there’s going to be a couple of events in the Village to celebrate some of its vibrant history.
Predominantly the focus of the weekend is on Thomas Hardy. The Old Vicarage, which is our home and Ekopod HQ, appears in Thomas Hardy’s poem The Face at The Casement where he and his fiancé visit the home of his fiancé’s ex suitor. There is going to be a re-enactment of this on the Sunday along with music and a poetry recital. We especially love the connection as we share our surname with his fiancé, and eventual wife, Emma Gifford. Hardy met and fell in love with Emma while he was working on the nearby parish church of St Juliot, she was living in the rectory there, and they married in 1874.
On the Saturday evening before the re-enactment there will be a guest speaker from The Thomas Hardy Society giving a talk at Rosehip Barn. Over the whole weekend, starting on the Friday, there is going to be a flower festival in the Church with each of the windows being decorated to depict a different one of Thomas Hardy’s poems. All proceeds from this festival go to the beautiful village church.
There was also be information there on Sabine Baring- Gould who wrote ‘Onward Christian Soldiers as he over saw the restoration of, the originally Celtic, St Clether’s Holy well. The restoration was completed in 1899. There will be a guided tour to St Clether’s Holy Well on the Sunday afternoon and there will be a talk on him on the Saturday evening as well.
It should be a really interesting weekend on local history and everyone is welcome to attend.
