The annual Jack-in-the-Green festival at Hastings, East Sussex, has taken place over the May Day bank holiday weekend since the 1980s, starting on Friday and finishing on Monday.  The culmination of the event is the parade of Jack and his bogies, followed by morris dancers, drummers and giants around the streets on Monday.

Monday 2 May 2016 was a dull, damp day, with little, or no, sun.  However this did not prevent a large number of people, many of whom wore green and garlands in their hair, or had their faces painted green, turning up to enjoy the parade.

Jack himself consisted was covered with rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum) leaves, and surmounted by a crown of chrysanthemums.  His accompanying bogies wore costumes covered in fabric leaves.  They were followed by what appeared to be a shorter procession than usual, and, as in recent years, there were few morris sides and giants, though troupes of drummers seem to be maintaining their numbers.

Each year an ever increasing           number of pubs and other businesses  and private houses seem to be decorated with greenery, mostly rhododendron and other evergreens, and ribbons.

Whilst Jack-in-the-Green and his associated folkies occupy part of the town, a motorcycle rally – the Hasting May Day Run – now in its 38th year, dominates elsewhere.