Entertainment & Events
May Day
In Standon, May Day is celebrated in two ways. On the first of May the Standon Morris men dance the Sun up around the Pudding Stone at 5.30 a.m., thereafter dancing down the High Street. Another old Hertfordshire custom which is observed is the placing of sprigs of May on people's doors. After breakfast they dance round the local villages, from pub to pub, finishing at the High Street public houses.
On Bank Holiday Monday events take place throughout Standon High Street and Burrs Meadow, including Maypole dancing and the crowning of the May Queen at 2.45pm.
Standon Calling is a boutique music festival set in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside. Celebrating its twelfth year in 2017, the festival has come a long way since its birthday garden party beginnings and attracts audiences from the area and from much further away. Acts that have played there have gone on to national and international fame.
A friendly village drama club who have been entertaining audiences since 1944. It welcomes new members for on and off stage roles.
Standon Morris is a mixed side performing traditional Cotswold dances in and around East Hertfordshire. Recent repertoire includes dances from the villages of Headington, Brackley and Ducklington and this has been expanded in 2016 to cover Oddington and Wheatley.
They are always pleased to see potential new recruits, whether to dance, play an instrument or even do a bit of both. Men, women, girls and boys (minimum age 10 years) can give it a try at the beginners' workshops in September or at one of the practice nights in the winter.
This is an annual event and takes place this year on Saturday 9th June 2018 - 11.00am to 6.00pm. Fifteen gardens will be opening, the majority being in the village High Street within easy walking distance. There is a walk across the fields to the Standon Lordship where you can try your hand at Croquet on the lawn. There is usually music from a Big Band and the choir will roam freely singing in various gardens.
Lunches and teas are provided as well as entertainment for the children. All proceeds go to the Friends of Standon Church and the British Red Cross. There is a plant sale in the garden of Paper Mill House, Paper Mill Lane.
Martyn's Lights - Puckeridge
The Parish paid homage to a much-loved late shopkeeper by buying and turning on Christmas lights in the village he served for 28 years. Each year since his death in 2012, the Parish has turned out in force for the switch on in memory of Martyn Dawkins, the former owner of Puckeridge General Stores in High Street. The lights, which stretch some 1,970ft (600m) down the High Street, were funded by community donations totaling some £4,000.