Randwick is a village bordering the market town of Stroud known locally for its folk traditions such as the Randwick Wap, which dates back to the Middle Ages
Church: Three Double Gloucester Cheeses are blessed during a special outdoor service at St John the Baptist Church in Randwick before being rolled around the centuries-old building anti-clockwise, or ‘widdershins’.
Love and friendship: Are what this annual event is about and informs the chorus of the ‘Mayor’s Song’, with which everybody joins in with gusto. Before the Wap, men and women from the village seek to gain votes from parishioners, concluding with the Wap Queen and Mayor being chosen by a secret ballet and declared for all to hear during the ‘Chusin’In’ (presenting of the voting results).
War Memorial: The parade starts at the War Memorial down the hill to the Mayors pool, where the procession then goes through the town with Cheese rolling at Well Leaze. It finishes in the playing field with stalls, games and music.
Mayor’s Pool: Their first stop is the Mayor’s Pool for the ceremonial ‘dunking’ of the year’s office holder, during which everybody assembled is likely to be made wet.
Village Green: Afterwards the two remaining Double Gloucesters are rolled down the Well Lease. This is followed by a fair on the village green with stalls, games, welly wanging, a dog show and music.
Vine Tree Inn: Cecil Sharp called into the Vine Tree Inn on April 9, 1908. He might have had one or two pints of Stroud Brewery Ales with Henry Bassett, the landlord, and persuaded him to sing. Cecil recorded Henry's rendition of the song ‘’the Rigs of London Town.”
Rev. Nial Morrison: The event was banned during the late 19th century by the court at Whitminster, due to ‘debauchery’, but revived in the 1970s by the late vicar Rev. Nial Morrison.
The Wappenshaw: Wap, comes from the Old English for ‘weapons show’.
The annual Wap church service is held at 11am on Sunday, May 5, with the procession assembling at 12.30am and the fayre starting at 1pm on Saturday, May 11.
