Ale walk is bees knees!

SWARMING around . . . Manchester Bees led by Anneli Ebden (front)

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THERE was definitely a buzz about this year's Saddleworth Beer Walk.

A group of friends swarmed together to dress up as "Manchester Bees" for the unofficial fundraising hike round village pubs on Saturday.

One of them, Keith Wright, from Uppermill, said: "We thought it was a great theme for this year's walk to dress up as the bee and show our solidarity after what happened in Manchester.

"We also collected money for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund along the way."

About 200 loyal locals were expected to take part in the event which is being kept alive by Justin Brown, from Delph, and his sister Angie, after the traditional Saddleworth Round Table version was axed a few years ago.

Cavemen and women, ducks, "lady builders", Vikings, gingerbread men and the Spice Girls were among the merry throng of beer walk participants.

Simon Hodgson, from Greenfield, chose a Hindu theme and pulled along his very own bed of nails. He was joined by Paul Ellison who was dressed as a snake charmer.

Justin and pals were dressed as hot dogs while Angie and friends provided the perfect accompaniments as mustard, ketchup and beer.

It is the sixth year the duo have organised the event and Justin (48), who owns a kitchen fitting business, says it's something they both grew up enjoying and intend for it to go on for many years.

He said: "We're carrying on the tradition and we're still raising money for Saddleworth Round Table.

"The original one got out of hand, but this is just about local people coming together to raise money and have some fun. It's a great event and everyone puts in so much effort to dress up. It's good to see."

Paul Read (33), from Greenfield, has been taking part in the beer walks for 13 years and is a previous winner of the original event.

He led a 15-strong brood of ducks round the course under the banner of the Drunken Duck Race - The Beer Waddle, while also raising money for Cancer Research.

Paul said: "It's a great cause and something I've loved being involved in.

"It's great that it's been resurrected and I hope we can keep it going as it raises a lot of money for charity."

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