PREPARE for swashes to be buckled and timbers to be well and truly shivered, because Highworth’s May Day event is returning with a pirate theme.

The family fun day will be back in the Market Square on Saturday, May 5, from 10am for another year of entertainment, fancy dress and food.

Sandra Rendall is part of the May Day Committee that organises the yearly festivities.

The pirate theme was suggested by a Highworthian through the committee’s Facebook page.

She said: “The weeks leading up to it are quite stressful, but the day itself is always good fun and we enjoy doing it.

“Last year’s went well and kids love pirates so hopefully this year’s event will be just as successful.

“We trialled the pub games last weekend to make sure they work and they’re safe, and I’m just finishing off a few final pieces of paperwork.

“It’s all coming together quite well, better than in some of the other years.”

A packed day of entertainment has been prepared.

Pirate Jax Parrow will present prizes to youngsters with the best costumes.

And 57 stalls will fill the High Street along with the usual eight from the Saturday Market, plus a treasure chest full of booze will be raffled off.

Falding’s Fandangos pirates Captain Corey, Felicity Footloose, and Captain Grimbeard will show off their daredevil skills and entertain revellers.

Corey will perform extreme diabolo (the art of the devil), Felicity will juggle knives and perform acrobatics, and Grimbeard will tell tall tales of sea monsters and skullduggery.

Live music from Mac and Cheese, Midnight Activists and Splat the Rat will be played throughout the day.

Families can take their picture in a Captain Pugwash photo board.

There will also be morris dancing, reptiles, and, of course, dancing around the maypole.

Mayor of Swindon and Highworth resident Maureen Penny will open the event after the bells of St Michael’s Church ring out.

Guests will also help escort the traditional Jack in the Green around Highworth - guiding it, carrying it, and joining the procession.

The Jack wears a large, foliage-covered framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which covers his body from head to foot.

The day will conclude at 4pm with the Pub Challenge, where teams from the Goldfinger, King and Queen, Plough, and Saracen’s Head face off against each other to win a top prize and lose their dignity.

All the money made from the event will go straight back into the committee’s coffers ready to be spent on next year’s fun and games.