Hundreds of people enjoyed the festivities at Randwick Wap on Saturday in an event believed to date back to medieval times and was banned in the late nineteenth century by the court at Whitminster due to ‘debauchery’.
The Wap was reinstated in 1972 by Randwick’s vicar, the late Rev Nial Morrison, and has been an annual favourite, though it fell victim to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Swipe through Mark Halling’s Randwick Wap picture gallery to see how the day unfolded at the historic event.
The event starts with Mayor making at the village war memorial and sees the Wap Mayor – Karen Chastney – and Queen – Anya Prosser – being carried at shoulder height through the village by members of Randwick FC.
The procession moved through the village, aided by “The Mopman”, to a spring where the new celebrities were “wetted” before they rolled two Double Gloucester cheeses down a hill to determine the fate of the seasons crops.
Stalls, refreshments and events on the field next to the village hall helped raise money for local charities and groups.
The word Wap dates back to Saxon times and could be an abbreviation for wapenshaw, or show of weapons, to check that the community could defend itself.
