Randwick Cheese Festivities

Every May, the charming town of Randwick does strange things with cheese, and its poor Mayor. Some of the rituals are pagan, some are rural, and some are Tudor, but they're all as mind-bogglingly bizarre as each other.One takes place on the first Sunday in May and is said to ward off evil spirits. After being blessed, three cheeses are rolled, spookily, anticlockwise around Randwick Church. One of these is then cut up and shared out amongst the crowds. Locals insist that eating the cheese enhances one's fertility and therefore ensures plenty of future generations of Runickers - another name for local villagers - to continue the tradition.

The following Saturday sees The Randwick Wap. The word is a contraction of a historical term wappenshaw and is, strangely, best described as a local weapons inspection. Today it is used to denote the town's traditional festival procession.

One of the highlights of the procession is the fracas, a custom that has survived since 1876. A cavalcade of costumed villagers, resplendent in Tudor and regency regalia and accompanied by all manner of musicians, wends its way from the War Memorial to the Mayor's Pool. Leading from the front is the "Mop Man", who swishes his wet mop to clear the crowds. During the procession, the Mayor and Festival Queen are carried shoulder high and escorted by an entourage of flag boys, ladies in waiting, and, wait for it, cheese bearers, as well as Princesses, a sword bearer and a flag man. The Mayor is then ceremonially dunked in the pool before being doused with spring water. The procession then continues to the Well Leaze, where two double Gloucester Cheeses are rolled down the steep slope.

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