A MAY Day event was brought into Newton Abbot's town centre for the first time in some 30 years on Friday.

The children of Wolborough Church of England Primary School, along with their 11-year-old May queen, Jessica Darke, and master of ceremonies Ryan Thorne, also 11, walked in procession from the school to the recently opened pedestrianised area in front of St Leonard's Tower.

There, the younger pupils put on dancing displays and the older children danced around the traditional maypole.

Jessica was crowned by the town's deputy mayor, Cllr David Howe, and she was presented with bouquets by the Magpies Pre-school May queen Daisy Rogers, and one of the Fair Maids of the Borough, Caitlin Woolley.

It was a suggestion by Michael Martyn, the steward to Lord of the Borough Keith Stokes-Smith, to restart the May Day procession through the town. The cohead of Wolborough Primary School, Peter Ball, agreed and it also won approval from the town council.

'We have been having our own May dancing at the school for at least 30 years and I have often thought it would be nice if we shared it more widely. I think it was a highly successful day,' said Mr Ball.

Mr Martyn said now the town had the new pedestrianised area it was wonderful to bring it out into the centre of the town and he hoped it would become an annual event.