HISTORY – By Peter Fox
It’s August and I have to be careful what I say but there are people of a certain age who may mention to relatives or friends it is Wakes Week – to which many won’t have a clue what they are on about.
It’s a wonderfully colourful bit of history that would demand a book to give it justice so this is just a very brief introduction.
The Wakes Week was the annual holiday associated with the textile industry in the North West; other regions of the country had different names. The Wakes Week would prompt the closure of all mills in a certain area, giving rise to the comment it was like a ghost town with silent mills and many people away.
The Wakes holiday period has its origins in the tradition of rushcarts but that’s another story, though for many years up to 1900 some of Saddleworth’s villages still turned out a rushcart for Wakes Week.
The Wakes holiday at the start was a couple of days of rest from the daily grind of work. In 1855 the paper commented that ‘…this annual merry season commenced on Saturday last.’
The factories ceased working until Wednesday morning so at first it wasn’t even a full week. It was originally essentially a holiday at home as it originated before the coming of the railways and the focus was the fairground, which would stay in each area before moving on.
The fairground for Saddleworth Wakes was originally held in Uppermill Square and later extended to the outlying fields, the site they occupied for a number of years. The Oldham Wakes had a huge one held on Tommyfield Market.
The railways came to Saddleworth in 1849 and for the first time people could enjoy a day trip beyond Saddleworth’s borders – in 1850 nearly 400 people availed themselves of a cheap trip to Liverpool commenting that many had never seen the sea before.
The seaside resort of Blackpool became a focus for many of these trips. The papers each year recorded the tickets sold at each station and resorts included Llandudno, Southport and London, with perhaps the most exotic the Isle of Man.
There were in Saddleworth many other pleasures on the doorstep: you might visit the Moorcock Inn for a picnic, enjoy Summershades Pleasure Gardens, go to Kelsey Park in Dobcross for a fairground ride and in later years Grotton Lido and the outdoor pool.
The requirements of a holiday were in many ways similar to those nowadays: the ladies would worry about the costume they would wear, with the papers carrying adverts to prompt the latest fashion.
The men no doubt had to make sure the ‘Sunday best’ suit was still suitable and the children made sure they hadn’t outgrown their clothes. It was common that special food treats would be bought for the occasion with family and friends visiting.
The holiday, as today, was reliant on money but unlike nowadays it wasn’t holidays with pay and they had to save for the occasion. In the 1880s the Wakes Savings Clubs started either in the workplace, pub, or club with a treasurer collecting money weekly with substantial sums being distributed each year.
The end of the Wakes traditional holiday came in the 1970s, as much of the textile industry had closed, the schools ceased to recognise the week and the papers stopped recording the occasion.
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