I have seen small groups of pearlys around London on many other occasions collecting for various good causes, but this was the first time I have seen such a large gathering of them in one spot. En masse they made for a great sight in all their mother of pearl finery, and how great to the see children there taking up the mantle to become the next generation of pearly's.
This was a contingent of Pearly Kings and Queens who had made the effort to come all the way from Italy. They enthusiastically embraced both colour and the Union Jack flag in their pearly designs, and didn't strictly stick to black clothing as a background for their pearl buttons.
Some pearly pattern design details.
I liked the quirky pearly dangly thing on Pearly King of Mile End - John Scott's cap. Meanwhile butterfly designs proved to be popular with the Pearly Queens and Princesses.
That ardent royalist woman who turns up at all the royal births, deaths and marriages put in an appearance. I don't think it's possible to love Britain or the monarchy more than her.
The crowd were entertained by the sounds of piped organ music before the civic dignitaries, and the great and good of the city assembled and took their seats.
The Sheriff of the City of London was master of ceremonies, and together with the May Queen got all the dignitaries and pearlys up and around the maypole. A right good knees up ensued!
There was more dancing as we were then entertained by a youthful group of Morris dancers, before drumming group Pandemonium - who entertained the world at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics took to the arena. They gave a rousing performance based on this year being the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.
An older, but no less agile group of Morris dancers from Chingford then took centre stage and entertained us with their nimble footwork.
Lastly, the Pearly Kings and Queens and Chelsea pensioners took to the arena giving us a parade of their outfits, whilst others took turns on the mic to sing traditional pub songs such as Forever Blowing Bubbles, and The Sun Has Got It's Hat On, etc. as they paraded.
The pearly's then made their way out of the arena, and led a march through the streets to the nearby St Mary Le Bow church where they were met by bagpipers, and piped in for the Harvest service.
St Mary Le Bow
St Martin-In-The-Fields
Whilst the pearly's and dignitaries made their way into St Mary Le Bow, I made my way across town to see the statue of the man with whom it all started. Hidden in a quiet corner of the crypt of St Martin-in-the- Fields stands this statue of Henry Croft (1861-1930), a humble road sweeper who first started wearing clothes decorated with mother of pearl buttons in order to draw attention to himself to raise money for various charities. The statue depicts Croft in one of his "smother" suits, so-called because it is covered in thousands of mother-of-pearl buttons. Croft designed a number of pearly suits for himself with different pearly designs, as well as making pearly clothes for others. He recieved numerous medals and ribbons for his fund-raising efforts, and claimed to be the "original Pearly King in London". This lovely statue was commissioned for, and originally stood at his grave, but after being vandalised on different occasions since, was moved thankfully, to it's present site in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Field for preservation.
