Work
on the restoration began in May. The old tree stumps
were grubbed up, rubbish cleared and the surrounding
banking built up and squared off.
During
this process four huge blocks of concrete were dug out. Could they be the
remnants of the 1920’s corner posts? At the same time two large
rectangular blocks of stone were also removed from the area.
Years of
erosion had created a slope which necessitated bringing in tons of rubble
and subsoil to form a level platform on which to lay the topsoil.
Great
excitement was caused by the discovery that one of the blocks of stone,
measuring approx 3feet long by 2 feet wide by 18 inches deep had a 3¼
inch diameter hole bored right through it. We had found the original
maypole socket!
The stone was repositioned in the centre of the ground and
a rectangular area 20 yards long by 16 yards wide was enclosed by purpose
built fencing with a special kissing gate in one corner to allow
wheelchair access and a standard gate beside it for mower and maintenance
access.
More top soil was put down and the whole enclosure was
turfed
All
that remained now was to find a new maypole. A visit to the Council’s
street sign depot yielded a 14 foot pole with a 3 foot extension.
The
extension was adapted by the addition of metal hoops to hold the flowers
and ribbons and the top was adorned by a replica of the Maypole Pit
Winding Gear. The idea for this came from the trainees’ supervisor, an
Abram resident, who also actually made the replica.
