But just two weeks later we were off on another hectic weekend – firstly, on 24 and 25 Aug, another trip North to the Saddleworth Rushcart Weekend, which we had previously taken part in 3 years earlier in 2010. As before, the weekend is hosted by the excellent Saddleworth Morris Men, and mainly consists of pulling a rushcart, on which sits a different Saddleworth Morris ‘jockey’ each year, around the villages of Saddleworth – in particular Uppermill, Greenfield, Delph and Dobcross. The weekend finishes with a final pull of the cart up the long hill to Uppermill Church before a church ceremony, and then dancing and obscure competitions in the grounds outside. We had learned from our previous visit that there is less work involved in carrying the ‘stangs’ (wooden poles fed through ropes attached to the cart) which are behind the cart rather than in front of it as there is then no pulling required, just a gentle applying of brakes every now and again – and so we made a beeline for the back once again! From time to time there were dancing opportunities in the villages and at the church, and as on our previous visit our dances seemed to go down well. However those who camped high up out of Uppermill at the Carriage House pub, very near the Pennine Way, found some problems with midges on the first night leading to a lot of scratching on subsequent days…
The weekend concluded on Bank Holiday Monday, 26 Aug, with a sprint back down the motorways to the Towersey Festival for a full day’s programme there. Starting with a stick dance workshop on the Market Square stage, we then had a subsequent 3 display spots on the stage (shared with other teams including the alarmingly tall Sheffield City Giants), before a ceilidh spot in the evening ceilidh with Tickled Pink. Time for another Men in Black special spot – more screams, shouts, cheers – are we turning into the One Direction of the morris world?!
