SOUTHAMPTON saw an annual Mummers Play put on at St Michael’s Square to crowds of onlookers.

For nearly 20 years, rain or shine, on the first Sunday of the year, local players put on their version of the folk play thought to have originated in the mid to late 18th century.

Mummers Plays are performed by troupes of actors, known as mummers or guisers. The play is performed as a traditional farewell to the old year and welcoming of the new year.

Matt Fletcher, one of the group, said: “There was a time when every village in the country would perform these plays.

"They aren’t performed for commercial reasons but because it serves a purpose.

"It was great, a really good crowd but very cold! It was a mixed family audience.”

Mummers also perform in Otterbourne.