On the day...
The main focal point of the Neston Female Society is its traditional 'Ladies Day Walk' which takes place on the first Thursday in June and has done, annually, apart from the war years.
The society has gone from strength to strength and attracts around 200 children walking along with the society members to celebrate the annual Neston Ladies Day. Long may it continue!
The colourful anniversary walk keeps the society in the public eye. The procession is led by two people holding aloft the society’s 7ft banner, sharing their motto "Bear Ye One Another's Burdens", which is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
Brightly dressed women and girls form the long procession which makes its way down the High Street to the Parish Church. In their hands they carry white staves that are garlanded with flowers and ribbons.
Traditionally the flowers are gathered from the members own gardens. Red paeonies, which are at their best in the Neston area during the early part of June, have become such a feature of the occasion that they are known locally as Ladies Day flowers.
The Mayor in his robes and chain of office, members of the local clergy, and many other local dignitaries walk as the guests of the society.
Inside the church the scene is as colourful as that in the High Street, with flowers packed onto every ledge that will hold them. Before taking their seats the members of the society stand their staves in the umbrella holders at the end of the pews, transforming the aisles into avenues of flowers.
Within recent years, however, the society has assumed an additional importance, it is once more unique. All the other female friendly societies in the country have been disbanded, rendered obsolete by the welfare state. Only the ladies of Neston, conscious of their responsibilities as the guardians of a tradition, walk in the footsteps of the pioneers of 1814.
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