A May queen crown dating back ninety years has been found in a loft and will now go on display at this year’s Lymm May Queen Festival.
The crown came to light after Lymm Heritage Centre was presented with a copy of the 1926 Lymm May Queen Programme which they have now shared in the on-line collection of the centre’s website www.lymmhic.co.uk.
The programme was donated by Beryl Potts of Stockport who is the daughter of that year’s May Queen – Winnie Yearsley.
But delight turned to amazement when Beryl got in touch again to say that she and her husband had unearthed Winnie’s May Queen crown in their loft.
It had been carefully stored in a small wooden box wrapped in tissue paper for ninety years, a treasured memory of a very special day in a young woman’s life.
Along with the crown which the Potts family have donated to the centre came Winnie’s life story in her own handwriting where she tells of starting work on a farm in Broomedge at age 14 in 1925. Her first morning task was to deliver the milk. No bottles in those days. Winnie writes how she would measure out milk from two large cans on the handle-bars of a bike.
Winnie goes on to describe her time as May Queen as clearly one of the highlights of her life, being taken all round the village in a coach drawn by six horses and with eight little girls as maids of honour..
“It’s finds like these , and the stories that go with them that show how important it is to create a home for the village’s heritage.” explained the Centre’s founder Su Williams “You can’t help but wonder what would have happened to both the crown and the story if there had not been a centre that would value it.”
The crown arrived in time to go on display at this year’s May Queen and will be on permanent show at the new centre when it opens, hopefully by the end of 2016.
The centre always welcomes new contributions as well as offers of help and financial support.
