Garstang and District Children's Festival
Snippets from the Past
(2006 Festival Programme)
Our Whitsuntide Festivals have, of course, a religious connection as, although more recently the Festival has been held on Spring Bank Holiday Monday, it used to be held on Whit Monday (Whit Sunday being the eighth Sunday after Palm Sunday). The Holy Days were very important to our ancestors, the world holiday having originated from them. These religious festivals – Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide – provided the annual holidays. The term Whitsun comes from the practice of wearing white clothing for christenings at that time of year.
Over the years, as Easter moves about the calendar taking Whitsuntide with it, the old festivals have settled at various dates. At the beginning of the last century Garstang celebrated an alternative Whit Monday with Churchtown. Certainly by 1904 the good folk of Garstang (probably to the annoyance of their neighbours) had decided that they deserved an annual event. Churchtown’s response was to stage their festivities on the Tuesday before settling on the Saturday they now favour. Another Lancashire town, Warrington, has managed to move its aptly named walking festival all the way into July.
The earliest Whit walks had their origins in the Sunday School movement which began in 1784 and started in the Manchester area around 1800. One of the aims of the Sunday School, in addition to its religious education, was to provide some respite for the children of that time who worked long hours in poor conditions, Monday to Saturday.
The first parades were joined in different areas by all sorts of organisations – Odd Fellows, Friendly Societies, and Mutual Societies – all seizing the opportunity to march. The Churches of course were accompanied by their congregations. Everyone turned out in their best clothes. The young girls often wore matching dresses and the boys would wear grey flannel trousers with a white shirt and tie. The Church or group proudly carried its banner – some of them grew to a huge size as a result of local rivalry. The banners were supported by relays of men who swapped at regular intervals, and were steadied by long tapes held by young women. Not all was `sweetness and light’ however. In some towns the churches would not even walk on the same day as each other and, even when they did, would quite often follow their own individual route before concluding with a service and sometimes a meal or picnic. The number of walkers in a group or congregation was an indication of its success and standing. A good excuse for non-attendance was required. Some of these events grew to a huge size with marchers exceeding 30,000 in Manchester in the 1950’s. Sadly this event declined but in recent years has seen a revival with fifteen churches marching, albeit along different routes, to a joint rally in Albert Square.
Villages had, by and large, changed a simple parade into a day of festivities. There was not the scope to walk long distances as in a town so they evolved into a day of events – races for children, sports for all, and some friendly rivalries – in the early 1900’s. Rides and entertainment started to appear at these gatherings with Warrington recording some of the first examples.
We have a copy of the financial accounts for our own 1954 festival. Bearing in mind a pound then would probably be worth thirty times that amount today, they still provide some interesting glimpses on the celebrations of fifty years ago. To save the chore of conversion, all the figures are in decimal equivalents.
Our gift of a necklace for our queen cost a princely £1.44. The receipts from the football competition totalled £80.65. Whilst the earlier rounds’ meagre takings mirror the small attendances – Copp v Claughton amounting to £1.68 and Bilsborrow v Stalmine £1.69, the semi-final between Copp and Pilling was an altogether different affair with a gate of £14.23. Even this figure was eclipsed after a draw needed a replay and £19.26 was collected. The final was played on the fair field on a Monday. The fair, which was held on the same field, would have been almost deserted whilst Copp and Bilsborrow fought for the trophy. The crowd, which was four and five deep, tossed coins to a value of £14.23 into a blanket which was carried. Part of this site, off Lancaster Road, is now a housing development called Fairfield commemorating its former use. The remaining part of the former fair field forms our rugby club ground – Hudson Park.
One of the major assets of the Society at that time was an investment of £150 in Defence Bonds. This was a loan to the Government much as Premium Bonds are today, the main difference being that these Defence Bonds and the appropriately named War Bonds, were funds raised for exactly the purpose their name implies. The patriotically minded Committee responded with some of their Society’s cash. The return on this investment was not exactly huge, some £3.94 per annum, but that was not really the point. Still, with a pint of beer costing around 6p, it would have gone further than today.
The wise heads of the committee must have been expecting that some beer was going to be consumed at the annual dance, because they organised a police presence to maintain order. As the total bill for this visit from the constabulary was only £1.40 it is obvious that a riot was not anticipated.
The figures show we spent on that day in 1954 £386.90. Last year’s festival cost £13,822.26!
We hope that these few snippets provide a small insight into festival development. Sadly in many areas festivals have, for a variety of reasons, disappeared. When you read this, the planning for our own event will be well advanced. As well as the many people taking part on the day, a huge number are involved with the organisation, building floats, making costumes, distributing booklets and collecting funds.
This huge support is of course what keeps our festival thriving, and hopefully this will be the case for many years to come. So on May 29th we will once again march around our town, passing each church in Garstang and following the aims of those Sunday Schools of long ago, in providing something for the children.