THERE will be music and merriment through the streets of the Rame Peninsula villages this bank holiday Monday (May 2) as the Black Prince Procession wends its way to the sea.

Now in its 30th year, the festival is a revival of a centuries-old tradition.

Each year, the newly flower-decorated model boat, the Black Prince, is carried shoulder-high through the villages by volunteer Naval Ratings from HMS Raleigh, accompanied by processional morris dancers and musicians, children and villagers.

After maypole dancing by Millbrook schoolchildren from 10am in the village hall car park, the procession moves off from Millbrook Quay. Those taking part are encouraged to wear traditional clothes – men in white smocks and top hats, with large buttonholes of white flowers, and ladies in long white dresses with red ribbons, sashes, and red flowers in garlands and in their hair.

This year a junior town crier contest will see youngsters having a go at exercising their voices at 11.30am in Milbrook West Street.

The procession proceeds through the streets of Millbrook, with stops en route for visiting morris sides to perform, and from midday it visits Venton House for a fete with stalls and entertainment. Then the procession moves on to the twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand.

While morris sides will be dancing both at The Cleave and at the clocktower from 1.30pm, the procession will leave Kingsand Community Hall at 2.15pm, going through the village to Cawsand Square for more dancing.

At 4.30pm, the Black Prince will be launched into the sea from Cawsand Beach to the strains of the launching song. The event is seen as symbolically marking the death of winter, with the launch of the boat in Cawsand Bay carrying the dead season away.