Aldermaston - Culture

Culture

Since the early 1800s, Aldermaston has held a candle auction every three years. The auction, which sees a horseshoe nail driven through a tallow candle an inch below the wick, is held in the parish hall. The lot is the lease of Church Acre, a plot 2 acres (0.81 ha) in area that was granted to the church in 1815 after the Inclosures Act. The proceedings are overseen by the vicar and churchwardens, who drink rum punch throughout the auction. Traditionally, the churchwardens smoked clay pipes during the event.

The parish hall often holds other events, such as plays produced by the village's own amateur dramatics society. The society, known as The Aldermaston Players, have staged fundraising events in the village 1966. In 1976, the parish hall hosted an episode of the BBC's Any Questions?.

The village, along with the neighbouring parish of Wasing, holds an annual produce show at The Old Mill. The show, which was previously held behind the Hind's Head pub, hosts produce competitions in approximately 100 classes. In the 1990s, a team of gardeners formed from the produce show entered the Chelsea Flower Show. They won a silver gilt in the Best Courtyard Garden Award in two consecutive years, for gardens named "Calma" and "Time Lords".

Since 1957 there has been an annual performance of the York Nativity Play from the 15th century York Mystery Cycle. The play follows a script by E. Martin Browne with carols by William Byrd, Johannes Eccard, and Michael Praetorius. The performances are at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in early December, and the actors are local people who have appeared in the play for many years. In 1964, the play was recorded and broadcasted by the BBC Home Service under the title of Star Over Aldermaston. One member of the production team was David Shute.

Aldermaston was mentioned in Plum Pie (1966) by P. G. Wodehouse—"Every now and then we march from Aldermaston, protesting like a ton of bricks... And then we sit a good deal." This was a reference to the demonstrations of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (the Aldermaston Marches) which took the form of marches from Aldermaston to London (apart from in 1958, when the march went from London to Aldermaston). This was an annual march from 1958 to 1963. Aldermaston was the original location of The Glade Festival. The 2007 event was jeopardised by torrential rains and flooding but cautiously went ahead. In 2009, the festival moved from the area and was held near Winchester. Since 2006, the village has held a blues festival known as "Blues on the Meadow".

The parish of Aldermaston forms a group with the local parishes of Wasing and Brimpton. The three share a monthly Parish Magazine featuring stories from churches, organisations, schools, businesses and various miscellany.