Helston Flora Day 2023: Dance times, routes, car parks

With the event taking place this Friday (May 5) the Flora Day Association has made a series of announcements over everything people need to know for the big day.

Each of the adult dances will start at their traditional time of 7am, 12 noon and 5pm.

The Morning and Evening dances will form in their entirety in the Guildhall, but as with last year, not all the Midday Dance couples will assembly in the Guildhall. Instead the first third of the dance will form there, with the remainder being formed in the courtyard of the Museum of Cornish Life, in line with current government guidelines for events.

The public is asked to respect the cordons in place as dancers are led around the Guildhall, past Henlys to their start position, and again on their return.

READ NEXT: Meet the Morning and Evening Dance leaders for Flora Day 2023

At the start of the Children’s Dance, which will begin at 9.50am this year, the second band will stand and play at the junction of Wendron Street and Meneage Street by the former Lloyds Bank. Spectators are asked to leave space for them.

Adam and Sarah Corbridge, owners of Lismore House, have agreed that the schools may enter the property by the small gate in Cross Street and then continue immediately around to the driveway of the house, to exit onto Cross Street again without going into the gardens.

The second band will remain outside the Grylls Monument and follow the dancers up Coinagehall Street.

The Children’s Dance will finish at approximately 11.20am and parents are asked to be in the appropriate location to collect their children from that time.

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Access to Lismore’s gardens will then be available to spectators of the Midday Dance from 11.30am, and later in the day at 4.45pm for the Evening Dance.

The route of the Midday Dance will be largely as 2022, leaving the Guildhall and proceeding up and down Meneage Street and through Church Street. The dance will enter Lismore Gardens as usual, then continue after Penhellis Gardens via Cross Street, through the Old Vicarage gates and into the garden then on to Leslie House.

Finally it will leave Lady Street to go around the bowling green and return to the Guildhall.

The Flora Day stewards said: “We would like to show our gratitude to Mr and Mrs Corbridge who again have provided us the permission for the dances to enter Lismore gardens and, additionally, the Association is delighted that we will be able once again to enter the Old Vicarage again this year, and offer special thanks to Sir Nicholas and Lady Serota.

“Entry into the properties and gardens on the route of the dances is a great privilege to us and we would remind the public that it is by courtesy of the owners who retain the right to close their gates/doors if they so wish. We ask you to respect their properties.”

READ NEXT: Helston Flora Day Midday Dance leaders are revealed 

Unfortunately, due to a Covid outbreak at Penhellis House this week, the gardens are only open to the dancers. The Children’s, Midday and Evening dances will go through the gardens only, and the grounds are not open to the public.

Although concern regarding Covid-19 has now receded, and Flora Day is an outside event, the stewards ask that people maintain a social responsibility for those attending at all times.

Flora Day Association secretary Nick Wills said: “The Association is very pleased that Gillian Geer will once again organise the Hal an Tow and would like to convey our thanks.

“We also have a film crew following the Hal an Tow this year for a children’s television programme Treasure Tales, which will be broadcast on CBeebies later this year.”

The Hal an Tow will be following the same route as normal, starting at 8.30am at St John’s Bridge in St John’s Road. The will then go up towards the Grylls Monument at the bottom of town and on to Number 1 Cross Street – one of the oldest buildings in town.

The pageant, which tells the legendary story of St Michael defeating the devil and St George slaying the dragon, will then head towards Penrose Hill and be performed outside the CAST building. It will move on to Meneage Street, the bottom of Trengrouse Road and then towards the Guildhall where they will finish in time for the Children’s Dance to begin.

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People are asked to give generously to Helston Town Band, who are once again giving up their time to play, and the stewards said: “We would also like to take the opportunity of congratulating them on their recent successes at the West of England Brass Band Championships. We thank them for encouraging so many young musicians to join with the older members, so that in years to come we will still have a full complement of players.”

Greenery to decorate with will be available from the car park at the back of Boots at approximately 8.30pm on Wednesday, with a smaller delivery on Thursday morning by the cannon outside the Museum of Cornish Life at 10am.

Cornwall Council has asked that all greenery is removed from buildings and placed in the road before 8am on Saturday, May 6so that the collection teams can remove it from the streets. Any greenery left out after that time may not be collected.

Road closures and parking restrictions will be in force on Flora Day from 5.30am. These take effect from early in the morning and people are asked not to park in the streets overnight from May 4 as they may cause an obstruction early in the morning of Flora Day.

You can read more about the road closures here: Road closure details including how to get in and out of town

In addition to council car parks, temporary car parks are available at a number of locations including Tesco, Helston Rugby Club and Helston Show Field on Meneage Road. These are not controlled by the Flora Day Association or the town council, but owners have been made aware of the issues involving marshalling, pedestrian movements, and queuing to enter, and that these should not be allowed to disrupt traffic flow on the highway.

Disabled parking is available in the permanent car parks in the town centre.

Temporary bus stops will be outside ATS on Clodgey Lane and on the A394 at St Johns. There will be taxi ranks on Trengrouse Way and on the A394 at St Johns.

St John Ambulance will be town again, as will NHS ambulances are in attendance. Contact can be made at the Flora Day Control Point underneath the Guildhall, opposite Henlys, with first aid points based at Coronation Park and beside the Museum.

People are asked to not leave bags unattended and any suspicious articles should be reported to a steward or the police.