Rochdale Morris celebrate anniversary at Rushbearing

The Rushcart departs from the King William pub in Shore

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The Rochdale Morris group celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary at the annual Littleborough Rushbearing Festival. The weekend of fun, dance and drink has developed into a wonderful festival since it was re-introduced by the Rochdale Morris group fifteen years ago and the people of Littleborough took to the streets to enjoy the dancing and to support the Rushbearing tradition.

The origins of the Rushcart date back to the 19th Century in the Pennine area when the rushes, which were to be used to line the dirt floors of the local church, were piled on a cart and taken to the Parish. The event developed into a local festival as dancers and music accompanied the cart’s journey to the church and the tradition continued even when the church floors were paved.

This weekend’s festival was no different from the ones which took place over a hundred years ago as the Rochdale Morris group, accompanied by various other Morris teams from across the Pennines and beyond, carried the cart from the King Bill pub in Shore to St Barnabas Church, dancing and playing traditional music as they went.

After a short, un-conventional church service which included singing and bible readings, local pub landlords rejoiced as the cart was carried all over Littleborough with stops at numerous hostelries for a rest and some ‘light’ refreshments, finishing on the Saturday at The Wine Press at Hollingworth Lake.

Large crowds gathered at The Wine Press on the Sunday when the dancers were joined by the ‘Bunnies from Hell’ Morris team and the ‘Britannia Coconut Dancers’ from Bacup, both dancing in their own unique styles in what can only be described as very unique costumes.

The Cart was then taken down The Rake and arrived in Littleborough town centre by mid-afternoon where there were charity stalls and the Littleborough Band was performing. The weekend’s festivities came to end with a display of Morris dancing by all of the groups involved and the dancers commented that there was no better way to celebrate an anniversary after a typically enjoyable and entertaining weekend Rushbearing Festival.