A new face for Jack
For 18 years I have participated in this unique event which is centred on the figure of the Jack in the Green. I felt privileged to be asked to make a new face for him. Embodying the spirit of summer, he is "King for a Day" as he leads the grand procession through Hastings Old Town up to the grounds of the castle overlooking the sea, high on West Hill. After a day of Morris dancing he is brought down and is slain to release the spirit of the summer as crowds of thousands look on, hoping to catch a leaf for good luck. There is a long tradition of people crafting faces for Jack. My own draws its inspiration from two sources - the early, green, Papier-mâché mask made by Clive Hicks-Jenkins and the many faces of the Hastings Bogies; the Green Men who escort and carry the Hastings Jack in the Green, of which I am one. When his new face made its first appearance in 2008, I was touched by the reaction from people close to the event. Like all the masks worn by Jack, he's full of personality and very much alive. The images include several of Jack's earlier faces and my two designs for Jack in the Green official merchandise and posters.