The local community and visitors to the area enjoyed a procession led by the brass band, fancy dress, stalls of local produce, traditional Morris dancing and dancing around the historic maypole that has formed the centre piece of these traditional festivities since it was first erected in 1897.

The historic Maypole, one of only two listed in the country, was erected to commemorate 60 years of Queen Victoria's reign. It can still be enjoyed today thanks to the community involvement in the Our Green Space Project that has funded the repair and restoration of the maypole.

The Our Green Space project, run by Friends of the Lake District and Action for Communities in Cumbria, works with local communities to look after and celebrate the open green spaces of Cumbria's towns and villages. The project began in January 2008 and runs until December this year.

The May Festival allowed Nether Wasdale community group the chance to show off the hard work they have put into improving their village green and to help use it better. The project has included drainage and repair work to the registered village green, as well as new bench seats, historical research, and talks and walks. The group has also produced a booklet about the history of the Wasdale valley, and historic information panels now displayed in the church.

The telephone and postbox have been moved to the centre of Nether Wasdale village and a new parish notice board installed displaying an artistic map of the area. Improving the local spaces has involved considerable hard work from many volunteers in helping to clear scrub and remove rhododendrons, planting bulbs and making new seats and planting troughs. Their efforts led to a Cumbria in Bloom award last year for Best Hamlet.

The local school children at Gosforth have used the landscape to inspire various creative writing and artwork. This includes working with a ceramics artist to produce a mural depicting the landscape of the valley that is mounted in the old school at Nether Wasdale.

Iona Ford (aged 9) lives in Wasdale and attended the festival. She said: "I always look forward to the May Festival, I really like being part of the community. This year I held the banner in the precession for the first time and dressed up as a mountaineer".

Iona is one of a handful of children who live in the Wasdale valley who all had their faces included on a tile as part of the ceramics mural mounted in the Nether Wasdale old school.

For more information on ‘Our Green Space' visit www.ourgreenspace.org.uk or contact Roe Baker This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it telephone: 01539 720788.