This lyrical piece of music was composed by a former English cinema organist in 1951 to herald the new Elizabethan age, a time of forward-looking optimism – just right for May, then. Our old sheet music for piano, bought at around that time When I was seven, I was one of a number of May Maidens, decked out in white dresses with floral wreaths in our hair, to process the length of the school field behind the May Queen, to the tune that I will ever associate with that special day, the Elizabethan Serenade. I trace my fondness for this month back to a special event in my childhood: the May Day ceremony held each year at the infants’ school I attended in suburban London. May has always been my favourite month, promising blossom, sunshine and the real beginning of spring. If only I’d known, I’d probably have ditched this topic and written about something completely different! Me, centre, being a May Maiden, with Days Lane infant school in the background I wrote this column for the May issue of the Tetbury Advertiser before Theresa May announced the snap General Election.
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