The Whitstable May Day celebrations grew out of the folk club at the Duke of Cumberland.  I attended a London folk festival with 'Fiddlers Dram', a folk group who later found fame with "Day Trip to Bangor".  We decided that we could run a better festival in Whitstable.

In 1975 the Council moved to Canterbury and out of the Castle on Tower Hill.  This was the perfect venue and our first May Day Celebration was 1 May 1976.  The following year the event was held on the Sunday, 1 May.  In 1978 the Government created the first May Day Bank Holiday and the first Monday of the month became a public holiday.  The May Day celebratins have been held on that Bank Holiday ever since.  Local charities were invited to have stalls to cover expenses and the cost of entertainment on the Castle lawn.

Town historian Wallace Harvey told us of a tradition where a 'Jack in the Green' was paraded through the town with Robin Hood and Maid Marion and we decided to revive this tradition.  We even composed our own May Day song which was played and sung along the route and at the Castle.  Later the Oyster Morris was formed at the Duke of Cumberland and has been part of the celebrations ever since.

In those early years the Castle Centre Association Committee helped with the organisation but as the celebrations grew it became too much for a small grou and Herne Bay & Whitstable Lions (as they were known then) agreed to help out.  This led to my being invited to become the first woman member of the Lions Club.  Now Oyster Morris and Whitstable & Herne Bay Lions have been working together for over 30 years to welcome the start of summer in Whitstable with tradition and fun.

Dixie Lee