Whit Friday In Dobcross Then And Now
All this week on Saddleworth News, I’ll be posting some of the best films of our area which have been uploaded to the video-sharing website YouTube.
And we start off with arguably the best-known of Saddleworth’s many summer traditions, Whit Friday. Specifically, Whit Friday as it was 25 years ago.
The video above shows the Whit Friday morning scene from that year in Dobcross Square, as the Dobcross Silver Band entered from the direction of the Band Club to the sounds of Hail Smiling Morn, before marching up the hill to pick up the rest of the procession. They all then returned for the open-air service.
The footage was uploaded by John Whitmore from Delph, who lived in Dobcross at the time. He’s got a wide selection of videos available to view on his YouTube channel, which can be found here.
By way of comparison, here’s the film of Whit Friday morning in Dobcross I took for Saddleworth News this year. The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems. Or at least fairly similar!
If you have any memories of Whit Friday in the 1980s, or if you can even spot yourself or someone you know in the 1986 video, then do leave a comment below this article! It would be fascinating to hear.
(Editor’s note: I’m currently away on holiday)
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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