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THE FIRST MAY QUEEN - PEGGY BARKER 1931 "You must wake and call me early, call me early mother dear, Tomorrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year, Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day. For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother. I'm to be Queen o' the May." Unless one of our readers can tell us, we will probably never know what, in 1931, persuaded the May Day Committee to abandon the title "Miss West Vancouver" and replace it with "May Queen". It could be that some one had just read Alfred Lord Tennyson, but a more possible answer probably lies in a change in sponsoring committee which seems to have shifted from a P.T.A. committee to a community committee. And perhaps, the connection with the May Day in North Vancouver, which had been held since 1922, may have convinced West Vancouver that there was more scope-fdrr ceremony in a Queen than in a Miss. However it came about. West Vancouver had its own May Queen in the person of Miss Peggy Barker. The West Vancouver News of Friday 15 May 1931 informs us that an arrangement had been made that the two big elementary schools would share the honours - if Hollyburn had the queen, Pauline Johnson would have the two maids of honour. Each school nominated six girls, one gathers from the grade seven class and by some sort of popular vote. Then, at a ceremony held in the Hollyburn Theatre, Reeve J.B. Leyland drew a name from a hat and there was your queen. The twelve contestants were: Pauline Johnson Queen Peggy Barker -Enid Clements Margaret McLellan Adelaide Lopatecki Keitha Anderson Patricia Bibbs Hollyburn May Armstrong - Maid of Honour Jean Hill _ Maid of Honour Jean Warner Janet Thompson Dorothy Jackson Olive Childs The newspaper account does not tell how the maids of honour were selected - it could have been a second and third draw, or the two top names in the vote at Hollyburn. Howbeit, the remaining nine girls became the Queen's Guard of Honour. And in due course, the twelve, supplemented by four flower girls, a herald and a crown bearer. The crown bearer was Mavis Whipple, last year's Miss West Vancouver, now aged seven. As in 1930, May Day began at 9:00 A.M. with races, this time Hollyburn winning the inter-school long distance relay. Charles Lauder, an employee of the West Vancouver Pharmacy, won the Delivery Boys' Bicycle Race. (Delivery Boys on bikes, for a while extinct, and now revived as messenger boys in downtown Vancouver.) Fred McIntosh won the Roller Skating Race. Later in the morning, there was a model aircraft competition - Paul Mathers' plane soared for 95 seconds to win him first prize. There was a Baby Competition too, held in the High School dining room with three classes. A Coralie Holt won the "up to one year" category. In the afternoon there was a parade to Ambleside Park, this time led by the newly formed West Vancouver Schools Band, and including the May Queen Elect in a car decorated with paper flowers, the May Day Officials, cars and floats, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides. The program at the park was to set the model for years to come, although each May Day Committee was to add or subtract as it saw the need. The National Anthem to open proceedings became a fixture; the "huge rocket" did not. The crowning of the queen presented a problem as Miss West Vancouver of 1930 at seven was too young.