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To the King George V Playing Field! …on Saturday afternoon for a leisurely, quiet Wivenhoe weekend: walking around the empty spaces, observing the changing of the seasons and then possibly some al fresco naturist yoga balanced on the brow of the skateboard park. Make sure that you oil your ball bearings.

Only joking.

Empty spaces are there to fill, the transition from spring to summer is a chest beating rallying call to come out and play; naked yoga gives you grass in your groins.

Hurrah then for the Wivenhoe May Fair 2012 - six hours of community building, all with the rather ACE soundtrack of music from Sunny Colch and the surrounds. THIS is what it means to take a hyperlocal holiday.

The May Fair confirms that a community is only as strong as the citizens who step forward to organise. Much, much work goes into May Fair. In return a community gets to come together for one afternoon of the year in the sun, shake hands and say, woh, what we have here folks is something rather special.

Awww.

Wanna see my naked restorative pose?

Which most certainly *wasn’t* a question that I posed to the very good @SgtLouMiddleton, our midday friendly face of May Fair greeting down at the lower gates of the KGV. My lunchtime stubble granted me ease of passage without a check on ID. There was no booze in the bag anyway - I get HIGH on vibes, kids.

Which was also the case for some of the *ahem* younger folk attending May Fair. A very polite operation was put in place by Sgt Lou and the police. A crate of Special Brew isn’t really a wise idea for a yet to start shaving kid of Sunny Colch.

“I’ll look after that for you,”

…were the wise words from the preventative policing.

TOP work, community policing at its best.

The whole site had been made into a safe environment to enable the best May Fair experience for all. Wivenhoe Woods ‘aint a great location for free love, mannnnnn. All those creepy crawlies get up the wrong cracks. A smart move in fencing off the fauna of Wivenhoe.

An early stroll around the site, and some familiar and new faces were found. Sam King, local filmmaker extraordinaire was already set up with his unique time-lapse approach to documenting events and telling stories. I felt a fraud flashing away with the SLR - the poor chap had probably been on site since 4am.

Looking forward to the results, Sir…

The Big Tissue was the gag that kept on giving.

And again - Big Tissue?

ACE.

With May Fair ([arguably] having its roots in radicalism and all things of the Left, what the chuffers was the Labour party doing in attendance? Only joking, Comrades. It was charming to see Cllr’s Liddy, Young et al, doing a fine service with the non-political practice of selling Labour cakes.

Made with the blood, sweat and tears of the oppressed proletariat, was a point that I posed to the m’Comrades.

“Actually, no. I made them at home in the kitchen.”

Whoops.

SANDINISTA with yer soufflé, Comrades.

And then just after midday. May Fair 2012 was officially open with the playing of the National Anthem.

Blimey.

Jubilee Weekend hadn’t come a week early to Wivenhoe, but the brilliant Jay and the Friend (a sorta Jay and Silent Bob for Sunny Colch) serenaded the site with the ode to the Old Lady. This was the King George V Playing Field, after all.

The set soon relaxed, and Jay Nicholls (and the friend) were a class opening act, wigs ‘n all.

And so the pattern for the afternoon was in motion. With May Fair spread out across three stages - Tree, Sunrise and Open Mic - punters had plenty to see, much mileage to walk and only six hours in which to fit it all in.

A wander up to the Open Mic stage and Jules Everest was singing songs about ASBOS in the style of ABBA (damn keyboard.) Something tells you that sadly the same won’t be heard later on in the evening at Eurovision.

The Band of Fools over on Sunrise were only living up to one half of their name. A collective of quality musicians, for sure - most certainly not fools.

“They sound a little bit like The Beatles”

…remarked @AnnaJCowen.

They didn’t, of course.

Instead we had a remarkably tight, yet somehow loose ragtag of accordion, violin, bouzouki, trumpet, double bass & cajon. All Made in Wivenhoe as well.

Back on the Tree Stage and Brainstorm Wednesday were showcasing the more thoughtful singer-songwriter style that can be found within Wivenhoe. Long since established as favourites at The Greyhound and elsewhere, the step up to the big space of the KGV was made with ease. They’ll be headlining Wembley by Christmas. Which won’t be anywhere near as good as May Fair.

Exit stage left, enter stage right.

This was the moment that many at May Fair had come along to see with the much love that the town has for local heroes Hobo Chang. Has there ever been a band more suited perfectly for playing May Fair?

A tight rhythm section, a lead guitar that transcends styles and… a front woman that isn’t exactly shy about coming forward. And no wonder either with a voice like that. Fiona sounds the way that she looks. Which is unique, welcoming and ever so slightly naughty.

This was the first mass May fair mosh moment. The C’mon!!!! cry went out, and the kids came down to the front. Some to dance, some to snog, but most to simply smile. If you aren’t feeling happy when listening to Hobo Chang then you may as well bugger off back to base.

A little bit of Snake Oil up at Sunrise, and then the summons came from Madam Mayor, Cllr Penny Kraft of Wivenhoe Town Council (who most definitely *isn’t* a snake oil type sales person.)

The conversation covered the merits of Birmingham (not bad, but it ‘aint Wivenhoe) as well as the effort made by Madam Mayor in meeting the request from the May Fair Committee to come dressed in 70′s style clothing.

At least we think Madam Mayor had made the effort…

Time to dress down back over on the Tree Stage. Shoes and socks off - it’s only Animal Noise.

Hurrah!

Some bands you just need to make that connection with; you need to remove any barriers between you and the artistic muse. You need to allow the spirit of creativity to flow upwards and free your polluted inner soul of all the s*** that hits you during the working week.

Animal Noise politely request that you remove your shoes and socks, and allow the beats and the bellowing from the three-piece to synchronise as their set hits crescendo.

ACE.

Wanna see my naked yoga, boys?

Having played the Colchester Free Festival last summer, and now May Fair, this might be one of the last occasions that we get to see Animal Noise demonstrating the healing power of communal noise making for free in a North Essex field.

Where are we going, boys?

To the Toppermost of the Poppermost, Johnny.

Better believe it.

A slight come down was needed, and thankfully Sunrise provided this with Sleeper Cell. Don’t be fooled by the name - no time for forty winks, but instead the incredible musicianship of two men. No surprises that Jay Nicholls was involved once again.

The set included the most delightful cover of Everybody’s Talking, which somehow just made perfect sense as the sun shined across the Colne Valley and May Fair was the centre of the hyperlocal universe.

Love those metaphorical contradictions. May Fair sorta does that to you, folks.

Having marched up to the top of the hill, time to march back down again. Another hyperlocal hero in Lou Terry was putting in an incredibly brave performance on the Tree Stage. Singing about matters of love and y’know, understanding, can’t be easy. Especially so for a Wivenhoe teenager that talks more sense than most in the town.

He must be doing something right - Lou’s personal fan club came out in force to support the move from the appearance on the Sunrise Stage last year. With a slot alongside Jeffrey Lewis [blimey] up at The Lakeside next week, Lou Terry is another Wivenhoe act that looks like turning an eye elsewhere.

A short wait for the set change over, and back by popular return - both online and offline - looky, looky here: it’s only the superb Sonic Manipulator and his digital bag of bleeps and body popping. Some of the lyrics may *or may not* have required the bleep-ometer, but the little ankle biters of Wivenhoe loved the man wearing a tinfoil suit on the hottest day of the year.

Surfquake finished things off on the Tree Stage - well they did for the hyperlocal blogger who had a date back at base feeding the bonkers cat. Close yer eyes, take in that aroma of the Colne and you could almost be in Hawaii as the surf ‘n space cadet sound carried across the KGV.

And so that was May Fair 2012 - how was it for you?

A HUGE thank you to the May Fair Committee who have worked their sweaty bollocks off ever since May Fair 2011 came to a close. The planning was absolutely perfect, with a friendly, family festival back in the town. Quite an achievement and one that needs to be recognsied.

A good start would be the clean up of the KGV at 10am on Sunday.

You might even get to see some naked yoga.

Full flickr feed.

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