Saddleworth Ready For Whit Friday

It’s arguably the biggest day of the year for Saddleworth. Thousands of local folk and visitors alike will today enjoy this morning’s Whit Walks and this evening’s Whit Friday brass band contests at villages across not only Saddleworth, but also Mossley and the rest of Tameside.

Often called ‘the greatest free show on Earth,’ this year’s band contests have had a more difficult build-up than most. Suggestions from the police earlier this year that certain main roads might have to be kept clear led to dismay from some contest organisers, who feared such restrictions would mean the end for their traditional events. However, after a public outcry, the police, organisers and local councillors were able to reach an agreement so that this year’s contests will go ahead in much the same way as previous events.

New restrictions on pubs in Uppermill to deal with rowdy behaviour in past years have also led to anger. Some landlords aren’t happy at having to limit the number of drinkers in their bars, and pay for door staff, which they say will badly hit takings. Earlier this week there was at least relief for publicans elsewhere in Saddleworth, when the police and council confirmed the rules would only apply to the six pubs in Uppermill.

As for today’s contests themselves, the band which dominated last year, Black Dyke, is not taking part this time. Neither is another giant of the brass band world, Grimethorpe. But Yorkshire champions Brighouse and Rastrick are going to be here, and will perhaps prove to be the band to beat.

The Greenfield contest is going to be broadcast live online, so anyone not able to make it along today can watch proceedings. Local student Joey Peacock is going to be co-ordinating the coverage, and he says he hopes to start live streaming at 3pm with the music beginning at 4:30pm. To watch, go to his website here, and click Stream at the top.

Roads will be closed in some villages to allow for both the Whit Walks this morning and the contests later on. There’s information about the impact on Saddleworth bus services on the GMPTE website here.

For a much more comprehensive preview of the contests, including details of timings, prize funds, organisers and adjudicators, I can recommend an excellent article by Malcolm Wood on the 4 Bars Rest website. You can read that here.

Results of the contests will also be available on 4 Bars Rest over the weekend. The main results should be posted there during tomorrow, with the Saddleworth champions known by Sunday.

For full coverage of the build-up to the contests from Saddleworth News, go here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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