Spring is here and Easter is fast approaching, so Contrary Life has put together a round-up of the best quirky Easter events taking place this year. From egg rolling and marbles to bog races and coal carrying there are madcap races and crazy games happening across the UK…
Extreme Bike Makeover Workshops
Make your bike as special as this snail (Photo: Craig Shaw)
When: 12th – 25th April 2014
Where: Todmorden High School, Ewood Lane, West Yorkshire OL14 7DG
£: Free
What is it?
Get ready for the excitement of the Tour de France hitting Yorkshire with an Extreme Bike Makeover Workshop. The workshops are in preparation for the Fantastical Cycle Parade which takes place in Todmorden on 26th April. To take part, take along your bike, scooter, pram or wheelchair to one of the sessions and turn it into something a bit more magical. Participants can then join in with the parade using their specially decorated wheels.
More info: handmadeparade.co.uk
Great Finborough Bog Race
When: 21st April 2014 (Easter Monday)
Where: Great Finborough, Suffolk
£: Free
What is it?
The Bog Race is a key part of village life in Great Finborough. On Easter Monday each year there is a battle between the villages of Haughley and Great Finborough. Participants race across the Suffolk countryside from Boyton Hall to a local pub called The Chestnut Horse. The first team to return to the pub with ‘The Contract’ wins. The idea of the race and the contract comes from a time when workers from Boyton Hall were in the pub rather than at work. Workers were hired from the neighbouring village of Haughley to replace them. The original workers were up in arms, so the Employer threw the work contract up in the air and said that the first team of workers to step over the threshold of the pub holding the contract could have the job.
More info: wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Finborough and www.felixstowestar.co.uk
Pasche Egg Rolling Ulverston
Roll an egg down Hoad Hill in Ulverston
When: 21st April 2014, from 12 noon
Where: Hoad Hill, Ulverston, Cumbria
£: Free
What is it?
Pasche Egg Rolling is a traditional Easter event in Ulverston. From 12 noon people gather on Hoad Hill, where the Hoad Monument is situated, before rolling decorated eggs down the slopes. The word pasche comes from Middle English dialect and means Easter or Passover. A pasche egg is traditionally boiled with brown onion skins, giving it a patterned tan effect.
More info: www.ulverston.net
The Middleton Pace Egg Play
When: 21st April 2014 (Easter Monday), from 12 noon
Where: Begins in The Dusty Miller, Middleton, Manchester
£: Free
What is it?
Pace-Egging is an old Easter begging custom which is still carried out in parts of Northern England. Traditionally entertainment was offered by poor villagers in exchange for alms. Today the custom generally involves a lot of singing, dancing and drinking. Middleton’s pace-egging usually tours around seven local pubs, beginning at The Dusty Miller. The play involves heroes, villains, a fight and plenty of eccentricity.
More info: www.pace-egg.org.uk
Egg Dancing at Blists Hill Victorian Town
Egg dancing whilst blindfolded at Blists Hill Victorian Town
When: 18th – 21st April 2014, open 10am – 5pm
Where: Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge, Shropshire
£: Admission costs £15.95 for adults, £12.50 for the 60 plus and £10.50 for children
What is it?
Join the residents at Blists Hill Victorian Town as they celebrate Easter with the unusual pastime of Egg Dancing. Once blindfolded, the townsfolk will dance across the street without stepping on eggs that are carefully placed along their route. After the demonstration, everyone can have a go at this tricky challenge. Mini Easter eggs and lollies will be rewarded for completing the course without stepping on an egg. The egg dancing will take place twice a day opposite the Print Shop. There are also prizes for those wearing the best Easter Bonnet, and a ‘hunt-the-chick’ competition. Plus there will be hands-on workshops such as candle dipping in the goods shed, and open-air performances by the Prince Albert Players.
More info: www.ironbridge.org.uk
Battle Marbles Matches
When: 18th April 2014 (Good Friday), 10am – 12 noon
Where: Battle Abbey Green, Battle, East Sussex
£: Free to watch. To enter contact the organisers via marbles@battlechamber.org
What is it?
The annual tradition of marbles being played at Battle dates back to the 1940s. Local teams of five play games of marbles and an Easter Bonnet competition is held for children. Teams need to be entered before the day but spectators are most welcome. In addition to the games there is also a scramble by children for the 1,000 free marbles which are traditionally given away. Expect plenty of competitors in fancy dress!
More info: www.facebook.com/BattleMarblesMatches
British & World Marbles Championship
A long history of marbles at Tinsley Green: Pop Maynard in the ring
When: 18th April 2014 (Good Friday)
Where: Greyhound, Tinsley Green, West Sussex
£: Free to watch
What is it?
Tinsley Green in West Sussex is known as the home of marbles and the game has been played at the original Greyhound pub since the game’s revival in 1932. The Marbles Championships was a focal point of village life back then and so it continues to be today. In the 1940s an International Championship was introduced, the first of which attracted competition from the Americans. Since then there have been players from France, Germany and Japan amongst others. The object of the game is to knock one or more marbles off the ring by projecting a tolley (small glass or ceramic sphere) against them.
More info: www.greyhoundmarbles.com
World Coal Carrying Championships
When: 21st April 2014 (Easter Monday), from 12 noon
Where: Gawthorpe & Ossett, West Yorkshire
£: Free to watch. Men’s Veterans Race (40 years and over) and the Women’s Race costs £10 per person to enter. Men’s Main Race (18 years and over) costs £15 per person. Children’s Races cost £1 – £2 per person.
What is it?
This Easter the 51st World Coal Carrying Championships will take place in Gawthorpe, West Yorkshire. The event consists of men’s, women’s and children’s races in which men carry 50kg sacks of coal and women 20kg. The adult races start from the Royal Oak public house on Owl Lane in Ossett and continue for a distance of 1012 metres to the finish line at the Maypole Green in Gawthorpe village.
More info: www.gawthorpemaypole.org.uk
Bottle kicking and Hare Pie Scramble
The unique custom of Bottle Kicking in Hallaton
When: 21st April 2014 (Easter Monday)
Where: Hallaton, Leicestershire
£: Free
What is it?
Every Easter Monday the village of Hallaton plays host to a unique set of customs. It begins with a parade through the villages of Medbourne and Hallaton with a hare pie and three kegs. The Bottle Kicking, a strenuous game similar to rugby, can be traced back over 200 years but is thought to be much older. The competition begins with a wooden dummy keg or ‘bottle’ being tossed into the air. Teams then try to move the bottle across two streams, one mile (1.6 km) apart, by any means possible.
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle-kicking
Coracle Building in a Day
When: 21st April 2014
Where: Greystoke Cycle Cafe, Cumbria
£: Costs £95 for adults
What is it?
Greystoke Cycle Cafe holds Quirky Workshops on various topics throughout the year from longbow making to artisan cheese making. This Easter they are running a Coracle Building in a Day workshop. A coracle is a small and ancient type of boat. This workshop uses a combination of teamwork and DIY skills to make a coracle which you can try out on the picturesque Ullswater at the end of the day.
More info: www.greystokecyclecafe.co.uk
Birmingham passion play
When: 14th – 19th April 2014
Where: Birmingham
£: Tickets cost £10
What is it?
A Passion For Birmingham is a new promenade play re-imagining one of the world’s most important stories, the life and death of Jesus Christ, as a gripping contemporary drama, a political thriller, a study of the abuse of religious power, and of friendships ripped apart and rebuilt. A unique collaboration between Birmingham Cathedral, The Old Joint Stock Pub & Theatre and the Wellington Pub, this is an event for the whole community of multicultural Birmingham. A Passion For Birmingham is a promenade production which will lead its audience around both familiar spaces and hidden spaces in the three venues via the passageways and alleyways which surround them. In each new location, a new scene unfolds.
More info: www.oldjointstocktheatre.co.uk
[…] Vale Park and the accompanying Street Festival takes place from 2pm to 4pm at Todmorden Market. Free workshops are taking place in the run-up to the parade where local residents can take along their bikes, […]