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V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
WILL MICHAELMAS FAIR COIN TOSS BE BANNED?
On Tuesday the Daily Mail published an article noting that
the Tradition of throwing coins for children at the opening of St Ives
Michaelmas Fair was set to be banned due to health and safety fears. Can
anyone tell us the outcome of the vote? Was the Christmas coin toss saved?
-Editor
The tradition of dignitaries throwing coins for excited
children to scoop up at the St Ives Michaelmas Fair dates back 80 years.
But times have changed and it is set to be scrapped amid fears that
someone could be injured.Instead, the mayor and councillors of the Cambridgeshire town have been advised to tamely roll the coins towards the scores of kids who line up to scamble for the bounty.
Throughout the history of the event there has only been one freak injury - when someone's glass eye was broken by a coin in the 1940s. Critics branded the warning another example of 'health and safety gone mad', while the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said any ban would be 'over-cautious'.
The issue was due to be voted on tonight at a full meeting of the town council, which is dominated by independents, but the mayor indicated members were likely to accept the officers' advice.
'I think it is totally appropriate that at a large public event the council is considering people's safety,' he said. The Michaelmas Fair is a traditional Christian festival which marks the coming of autumn.
In St Ives, the three-day event opens each October with a procession of 16 councillors who parade through the town to the Market Square. Up to 150 local primary school children gather to greet the dignitaries, who then throw new 2p coins from bags they are issued with.
To read the complete article, see: Children's 80-year-old coin throwing tradition to be banned over 'health and safety fears' (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1085081/
Childrens-80-year-old-coin-throwing-tradition-banned-health-safety-fears.html)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
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