Fun, games, dancing - and a rushcart salute to PC Nicola

Photo: Chris Sunderland

Saddleworth Rushcart sets off from Uppermill with jockey Aaron Daniels.

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A SPECTACLE of traditional dance, sport, fun and games descended on Saddleworth at the weekend for the 39th annual Rushcart Festival.

People turned out in droves yesterday to watch “jockey” Aaron Daniels ride the 15ft bale tower as fellow Morris Men pulled it from the Commercial Inn, Uppermill up the steep Church Road to St Chad’s Church for a special service.

The rushcart also carried a banner in a poignant memorial to Diggle policewoman Nicola Hughes, a friend of Aaron, who was murdered alongside PC Fiona Bone at a house in Hattersley.

The content of the banner is kept a secret until the dawn of the festival, with the jockey for the year — the longest-serving Saddleworth Morris Man who has not previously held the honour — choosing what he wants it to say.

Topped with branches from a rowan tree, this year’s rushcart was a moving memorial which touched the hearts of many wellwishers who turned out to witness the spectacle and cheer on the 32-year-old jockey, who has been a member of Saddleworth Morris Men since he was 10.

Saturday saw 150 dancers from 22 troupes from across the country and overseas descend on Saddleworth to show off their dancing skills at pubs in Uppermill, Greenfield, Delph, Dobcross and Diggle.

It acted as a warm up for yesterday’s contest outside St Chad’s Church, where bells were jangled, handkerchiefs were waved, hats packed full of flowers and feathers bobbed atop sweating heads, and drums and accordians provided the beat and the music for finely-tuned dance steps.

Founder members of the resurrected Saddleworth Rushcart Festival — which died out with the start of World War One — Ron Yates, John Dunning and Peter Ashworth, took part in the first 1974 contest and were still dancing yesterday.

forecast was dreadful, but there was only a bit of drizzle and nothing we couldn’t cope with.”


All pictures taken at the Rushcart Festival can be viewed or ordered on the “buy a photo” tab above.