by Dave Agnew, Martin Clyde, Mike Curtis, Claire Ahuriri, Malcolm Harbrow, Donna Giltrap, Matt Swain, Helen Jones-Rippey and Ryan Paddy, with special thanks to Kath Dewar and Jacqueline Brasfield for their help

In the Barony of Thamesly a curious custom has arisen to mark the festival of May Day. Paying homage to a local myth, the villagers costume themselves as forest creatures and parade up the road to the Great Hall. Among them is a ferocious dragon, which only a rose from the lady of the manor may tame.

This year on May Day the barony is host not only to the usual wild festivities of the village folk and those who live in the greenwood, but also several courts of nobles who are travelling to Westminster to petition the king, and the camps of their soldiers who are preparing for war.

It is the Year of Our Lord 1221, and the fourteen-year-old boy Henry III is King of England. His reign is marked by struggle against the Magna Carta, which his father King John was forced to sign by the barons. Civil war beckons between his noble supporters and those who seek to constrain the royal powers and call a parliament.

It is an age of vast contrast between the educated nobles and illiterate peasants, the god-fearing clergy and violent knights. Kings rise and fall, realms are gained and lost, and the intrigues of village life may touch even the mighty.

The village children sleep restlessly, for tomorrow will be the best day of the year. The dancing! So many strangers! And the parade!