May Ball

The May Ball is a huge event here and the Governor attends and presents the prizes. It is really geared to 15 year olds who take part in the May Queen and Prince Charming competition. They go to extraordinary lengths to prepare for it. Some of the girls organise their ball gowns a year in advance and either get it made or buy it online or even go abroad to buy it. There are special dancing lessons for a couple of months beforehand. Also, all the hairdressers are kept busy beforehand.

Someone had suggested ages back that I might be asked to judge it as I am fairly new to the islands. She also warned me that it's a very difficult job and the decisions are not always popular. So, I was not surprised when the organiser, Phil, came to see me 2 days beforehand to ask me to judge it. I agreed to be a judge and was sworn to secrecy. I couldn't even tell the people I was going with!

So the big day arrived. I discovered that the 2 other judges were a barrister and nurse, here for 6 weeks and 3 months respectively. Eventually we were hoisted onto the stage so we could see all the dancing. We only had to judge the May Queen and May Princess (which was enough!). The Prince Charming and runner up were voted for by the rest of the crowd. The girls were dressed up to the nines and everyone was dancing to a very high standard. After 3-4 dances, we agreed the winners and our job was done. Anyway, it turned out that we were very lucky - we had chosen 2 girls from 2 big local families - phew!!

Here are some pictures of the winners which are from the Penguin News, the local paper...