Stratford "Mop" Festival

So our second week show was based around the "Mop" festival which was held in Stratford on the 12th of October 2012 and its history dates back some good 500 to 600 years ago. In the show we look at the Mops impact on Stratford nowadays and whether it still retains its historical value or whether its just another generic town fair that causes inconveniences to Stratford's residents.

The mop fair in essence was basically a huge job fair back in its day. People such as farm workers, craftsmen and mostly manual labour workers would at the end of their employment would attend this Mop fair dressed in the best clothes and carry an item signifying their trade. If they weren't part of a trade they would wear a mop on their head to symbolise they had no skills but desired to work. This would be where the name "Mop" comes from. Employers would attend the fair looking for new employees. Once an employer made an agreement with a desired employee they would give them a small sum of money and the employee would remove their item of trade and wear bright ribbons symbolising that they had been taken. They would then spend what they had on small stalls and games around the fair for celebration.

So does it still keep its tradition or is it just an inconvenience? Well its not used for its old purpose any more, very out-dated you see, so now it just has a lot of rides, stalls and food stands. Much like your average fair. Residents say that it causes a lot of traffic. School buses struggle to get in as do teachers so schools are affected as well as jobs. Schools also say that its very distracting for the students as they do find it to be a very good night out but can lose time for revising. The police presence has been raised considerably over the years due to some teenagers in past years causing a bit of an uproar and some would say that the presence of police frightens them off a bit but some residents just say you should feel safer and concentrate more on enjoying the night. The other side of it is that at the end of the day its a fun-fair. It brings good money into the community, more tourists and it just provides a good fun night. Youngsters and some residents say that despite its issues its meant to just be a night of good fun and people should enjoy it.