In pictures: Dancing at Dawn by Morris groups marks start of Hastings Jack in the Green 2024

Hastings RX Morris and Hannah’s Cat Morris, along with others, met at the Ladies Parlour at 4.30am to welcome in the First of May.

The event also marks the start of the annual Jack in the Green festivities and follows the tradition of dancing at dawn on May Day.

The annual event usually attracts an enthusiastic crowd of early risers.

May Day celebrations have been carried out in England for more than 2,000 years. The Romans celebrated the festival of Flora, goddess of fruit and flowers, in May, which marked the beginning of summer.

Many of the old customs celebrating new life and fertility survive to this day, including Morris dancing and dancing around the Maypole.

Thousands of people are set to line the streets of Hastings Old Town for the Jack in the Green festivities, which take place over the weekend of May 3 to May 6, with the main procession on the Bank Holiday Monday (May 6).

The procession starts at 10.15am from Rock-a-Nore, before continuing up All Saints Street, over The Bourne, and down the High Street where it pauses.

After a short break the procession continues up Croft Road and along Collier Road to the West Hill site, where an afternoon of festivities takes place before the Jack is slain to release the spirit of summer.

The event celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.