AFTER a question mark over its future, the ancient tradition of Bawming the Thorn is set to return back under the control of Appleton Thorn Primary School.
With an appeal for a new Chair of the organising committee and volunteers failing to find new blood, the event will now take place at the primary school, which will be organising the event as part of a school fete.
Bawming the Thorn takes place on the Saturday nearest to Midsummer’s Day, the third Saturday in June. ‘Bawming’ relates to the decorating of the thorn tree in the village with ribbons, after which the children from Year 6 sing the ‘Bawming’ song and dance around it.
According to legend, the hawthorn at Appleton Thorn grew from a cutting of the Holy Thorn at Glastonbury which was itself said to have sprung from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.
The event has taken place annually in the village for many years and run by a mixture of villagers, teachers and parents at the school. After many years of volunteering in key roles within the committee, new volunteers were sought from the village community. Susan Plass (nee Williams) took up the mantle in 2019 as Chair of the Bawming Committee from 2019 through to 2022, with amazing volunteers.
The event post-Covid was well received in 2022 by all who attended, at least 600!! Susan now says it is with deep regret that the Bawming celebrations cannot be progressed in the same way in 2023 onwards as she is standing down for personal reasons. After publicising the Chairman’s role with the Bawming committee members and on the Appleton Thorn FB page a new chair did not step forward to the Bawming Committee.
It was therefore decided at a recent meeting to close the committee and the Bawming funds would be apportioned to local charities and close the account.
Bawming the Thorn is very much part of the village history and the school’s historic curriculum.
Zoe Jones, Appleton Thorn Primary School Head Teacher, is proposing a new school committee to create a new celebration but based in the school’s grounds rather than the Village Hall. In fact, this is how it all started in 1967 by Mr Bob Jones the then headmaster. The fete moved to the current school site until the late 1990s when the fete moved to the Village Hall. The fete therefore will be returning to the school.
A lump sum has been provided from the Bawming funds, which will be ring-fenced by the school to help towards the new celebrations in 2023.
Retiring Chair Susan said: “Good luck to the school going forward.”
