Maypole of liberty

The people of Bream in Gloucestershire were glad when a maypole was set up. The village had a Maypole Cottage, Maypole Estate and Maypole Road, but since the centuries-old maypole was moved in 1925 to let motor traffic flow, it had owned no maypole. So it was a blow to learn that the nice new maypole, painted by volunteers from the Bream Gardening Society, must be taken down again because it required planning permission. The Breamites held a dance of defiance round the pole in protest. Maypoles have a way of rallying people against meddling authority. It was the same in 1660 when Londoners, sick of the long years of Cromwellian rule, put up a great maypole in the Strand. No one knew quite what it signified, but they knew it defied the republican puritans. We could do with a few more maypoles today.