Oxford’s traditional May Day celebrations went off
without serious incident, despite several people ignoring police
recommendations and jumping from Magdalen Bridge. 8,500 people packed onto the bridge on Saturday morning to
hear Magdalen College Choir welcome in the dawn at 6am. 12,000
are thought to have been in the nearby area at this time. Traditionally, Oxford students celebrate May Day by jumping
into the river Cherwell, but this has been discouraged in recent
years because of safety fears, after one person was paralyzed. A
two-metre high security fence failed to stop over a dozen from
taking the plunge. Thames Valley Police acknowledged that “no one was
injured” but admitted, “ideally we would have preferred
it if no one had jumped.” Matthew Balaam, who had wanted to do the jump for over ten
years, said, “it was fantastic, but it did hurt.” One
male jumper landed on the concrete but was not seriously injured. However, Oxford City Councillor Mick McAndrews told Cherwell,
theat despite being a “nice, Oxford tradition” it did
need to be “properly policed”. Currently, a private
security company employed by the Council provides the bulk of the
security on May Day. “The money spent on stewarding seems to
have been a waste,” he explained. Magdalen College Porter,
Bob Porter, agreed.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004
A very gay May morning
