The Freedom Years

There was a time when the pubs only opened from 12.00 until 3.00 and then 6.00 until 11.00pm so unless you found somewhere to go that stayed open later you were fairly limited to the amount of alcohol you could consume in a public place. So when May 8th came around every year, there was great excitement in the air station for what is known as   Helston Flora Day – a day of Cornish traditions such as flowers and greenery bedecking the buildings, dancers in ball gowns and top hats and musicians dancing gaily around the town, in and out of houses and generally acting a little odd by modern standards. Shenanigans started very early in the morning and went on through the day. The main attraction for us naval folk however was the fact that the pubs all opened at 10am and pretty much stayed open until midnight – with just a couple of hours mid-afternoon for the landlords to stock up their bars and replenish their supplies of plastic pint glasses. It also meant we could relocate ou...