200 years ago, May Day was a holiday for working people. Chimney sweeps and milkmaids dressed up and carried garlands around town. Jack in the Green was a prominent character in these celebrations, in Bristol and elsewhere.

In 1865, The Daily Bristol Times and Mirror records that sweeps paraded the streets dressed in fantastic colours accompanied by "an apology for a band". One sweep was enclosed in what sounds exactly like a Jack in the Green - a "floral, half-sized sedan, which, having no handles, compelled him to pay for the luxury of occupying it by carrying it himself". The article concludes "After exhibiting their agility as Terpsichorean devotees at various points of the city, the band played 'God save the Queen' in front of the Council house, and the professors of the 'black art' dispersed."

In those days, participants would 'cadge' money, to add to their meagre incomes. Today's procession no longer collects, though refreshments are always welcome...