Mayday, Mayday - someone stole my holiday

Headmaster’s Routh Assembly Address
Monday 2nd May 2022 

Reading: Excerpt from ‘May Day Eve’ by Nick Joaquin

It was the first day of May and witches were abroad in the night, she said—for it was a night of divination, and night of lovers, and those who cared might peer into a mirror and would there behold the face of whoever it was they were fated to marry, said the old Anastasia as she hobbled about picking up the piled crinolines and folding up shawls and raking slippers in corner while the girls climbing into four great poster-beds that overwhelmed the room began shrieking with terror, scrambling over each other and imploring the old woman not to frighten them…

But, alas, the heart forgets; the heart is distracted; and Maytime passes; summer ends; the storms break over the rot-ripe orchards and the heart grows old; while the hours, the days, the months, and the years pile up and pile up, till the mind becomes too crowded, too confused: dust gathers in it; cobwebs multiply; the walls darken and fall into ruin and decay; the memory perishes.

Good morning.
Today is officially a Bank Holiday in England, so you might be feeling a little hard done by to be here, working. I’ve got worse news though; yesterday was a holiday too, so you might have missed that one as well. I don’t know whether there were “witches abroad in the night” but yesterday, the 1st of May, was May Day. Traditionally celebrated throughout Europe, indeed, most of the Northern Hemisphere, as the start of Spring. Ancient celebrations, hence the talk of witches in the reading, with many rituals dating back to pagan times.

Here in England, village fetes are held. Maypoles are wrapped in ribbons. Occasionally, there is Morris Dancing. If you don’t know what Morris Dancing is, don’t ask. It is disturbing and will only upset you. At Oxford University, there is a tradition of jumping from bridges into a dangerously shallow river. At St Andrews University, students run into the icy North Sea at dawn, often naked. Perhaps to escape the Morris Dancers – who knows?

In Finland, young people are also at the centre of festivities. They celebrated Walpurgis Night yesterday, eating traditional doughnuts and drinking special alcohol. Which is special because it has no alcohol in it. Apparently. In Germany its Walpurgisnacht too, with huge bonfires as well as Maypoles again and more drinking and dancing.

For the Italians it is Cantar Maggio, which, perhaps not surprisingly in Italy, is all about food and love, in the form of big seasonal banquets and the singing of romantic songs. The Greeks are similar, with extra emphasis on young love and the rebirth of Spring.

Next door, the Spanish get busy decorating a tree or a sculpture in the centre of town, followed by lots of drumming things with sticks and singing loudly. There may well be drinking involved there too.
Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, May Day is called Irminden. There, the rituals revolve around a traditional belief that this is the time of year when snakes come out of their burrows and bite workers in the fields. People make symbolic noises to scare the snakes. This also involves drinking a lot, plus jumping over large bonfires.

Meanwhile, for their neighbours in Romania its Armindeni, symbolically a day of protection of crops and animals. Lots of waving green branches and men dressing in lilac. Which is getting dangerously close to Morris Dancing. More feasting, usually a lamb is roasted and lots of wine. Which is possibly why it is also known as ‘ziua bețiv ilor’ or "drunkards' day.”

So, drinking, carousing, young love, dancing, pyromania and prancing around in funny costumes. And you wonder why we are not taking a holiday today? But that is not the reason you aren’t at home lying in the sun.

Of course, the welcoming of Spring is not the only reason the 1st May is commemorated with a holiday in many parts of the globe. Many nations also recognised yesterday as International Workers Day. Also known as Labour Day. A date chosen in recognition of a tragedy that occurred in Chicago many years ago. 1886, in fact, at a time when there had been growing unrest in America about the lack of rights for workers. Mostly due to the Industrial Revolution, when factory owners were demanding ever-longer hours from workers in appalling conditions.

In response, the labour movement in Chicago held a rally in the central city, a place called Haymarket Square to protest and call for an eight-hour working day. It was a mostly peaceful gathering, with speakers up on soapboxes arguing their points. But towards the end of the evening, when the police moved in to disperse the crowd, things got violent.

Somebody threw a homemade bomb at the police ranks, which exploded killing seven policemen and four civilians. There was outrage, and eight well-known anarchists in the city were swiftly arrested and sentenced to death. There was no real evidence that any of them actually had anything to do with the bomb and in the years that followed they became martyrs in the eyes of many. For others, the bombing simply reinforced their hatred of socialism and the threat of anarchy, so they celebrated the executions.

However, the Haymarket affair marked a turning of the tide in labour relations, and the rights and protections at work that most of us enjoy today stem from that time. The fact that an eight-hour working day is now the norm, and the rights of unions to protect their members, both grew out of Haymarket affair. Accordingly, many of the nations in the world acknowledge Labour Day.

But it is not for any political reasons either, that we are working today, especially as I am not actually sending you down the mines or into the sweatshops.

The real reason for not having a holiday today has nothing to do with my fear of Morris dancers or militant anarchists. It is more to do with the fact that every day at Bromsgrove is precious. Especially at this time of the year, when examinations loom for many.

There are 52 weeks in the year. Most normal workers get three- or four-weeks annual holiday. Most schools get 13 weeks holiday. At Bromsgrove, you get NINETEEN. Nineteen weeks holiday a year. Which sounds lovely until you consider that every other pupil that you are competing against academically has a month and a half more to get through the curriculum than you do.

That is not intended to scare you. You know this School has a long and proud reputation for getting outstanding examination results. You can be very confident that the people seated behind me know what they are doing. Know how to help you succeed. But to do that, you need to be in their classrooms. Face-to-face. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the best learning happens when we are all together in the same space.

That is why every day in the company of your teachers should be precious to you.

That is why, although we can still acknowledge traditions and history, wherever we can we prioritise your learning.

That is why we aren’t on holiday today.

Presentations

I would like to invite the following forward to receive their Associated Board of Music certificates.

Charissa Brobbey-Sarpong	Singing	5
David Corcoran	Theory	5
Olivia McKelvey	Singing	5
Serisha Sunner	Theory	5
Cherry Tang	Violin	5
Aaron Chan	Drum Kit	6
Euan Choi	Drum Kit	6
Tiffany Fan	Piano	6
John Kim	Singing	6
Tilly Richardson	Singing	6
Joseph Hong	Clarinet	7
Mikhail Bashkirov	Piano	8
Neil Cai	Piano	8
Phoebe Qu	Piano	8
Jake Wingfield	Singing	8

U16 Boys Hockey
I would like to invite the U16 Boys Hockey team on stage to receive their runners-up medals from playing in the National Tier 2 Final at the Olympic Stadium.

Golf
School Championship:
The school golf championship was played before Easter. Thomas Griffiths was 3rd on 44 points, Lili-Rose Hunt was 2nd on 46, and the winner, James Humphries scored 49 points.

ISGA National Finals:
James, Lili-Rose and Thomas then represented the School in the National Finals at Formby Golf Club where, despite having the youngest team, we finished 13th out of 21 schools, with Lili-Rose 18th individually.

HMC Midlands Semi-Final:
Then finally, the School team defeated Cheltenham College 2-1 in the HMC Midlands Semi-Final, leaving one match against Warwick School between us another National Final. We wish the team well and for now, I invite James, Thomas, and Lili-Rose on to receive their trophies.

Maths Modelling Challenge
I would like to invite the following pupils who entered the international Maths Modelling Challenge to receive their certificates:
Tom Wang, Vicky Hu, Sally Sun, Ethan Wong, Larry To

Review

Athletics
There were lots of very good performances from our athletes at the first athletics match of the season, hosted at Rugby School.

Cricket
In a friendly T20 match the Boys 1st XI beat King Edwards Birmingham, whilst the Girls 1st XI lost in the national cup match against Malvern College.

On Saturday Magdalen College had the better of the results, although there was a very good performance from the Boys 1st XI, who won by 9 wickets.

Tennis
In a national cup match the Boys 1st team had a good 5-1 victory against Bishop Vesey School, and there were also good performances from all teams in matches against Clifton College, with wins for the girls U14A and 1st team, and the boys U14A, U15A and 1st team.

Preview

A reminder that if you want well-being support you can now use the confidential wellbeing@bromsgrove-school.co.uk email address and a member of the team will get back to you within 24 hours. Obviously though, if you need to speak to someone in an emergency, always seek out an adult in School first.

This Friday’s Own Clothes’ Day is in aid of ‘Hearing dogs for the Deaf’. Deaf people can often feel isolated or lonely and some of the ordinary things that most of us take for granted are more difficult for them. You only need to imagine not being able to hear your alarm clock or text messages, missing out on social interactions. Life can be very isolating for the deaf and a hearing dog can make a big difference, so please enjoy the privilege of Own Clothes Day but also give generously in recognition of what it is for.

And on the subject of being deaf, can I commend to you a short video clip that Mr Wingfield has added to the Tutor site this week. It is a TEDtalk, given by a wonderful OB who left the School just a few years ago and is now studying at LSE. Julia became deaf at a very young age and has had a remarkable career in spite of that impediment. Her talk is about how she found the mental approach and positive attitude to overcome those challenges and it is absolutely inspirational – I highly recommend taking a few minutes to watch it.

Finally, could I give you advance notice of the Fourth Form production of Romeo and Juliet that is coming up next week – not to be missed.

Have a great week; make the most of not having a holiday today and look forward to having more than anyone else in a few week’s time.

Please stand as we say the Grace together.