HUNDREDS of people from Saddleworth came together as the area marked Whit Friday with annual walks.
And they were joined by some foreign visitors, who had flown thousands of miles to be a part of it.
Uppermill Band did the honours by starting proceedings at 9am with a march along the village’s High Street.
And all over the area, churches and Sunday schools of all denominations turned out in a spectacle backed by glorious sun.
Some of those taking part were certainly strangers to Saddleworth, as Switzerland-based Brass Band Emmental led the Whit Walk in Denshaw.
Compatriots Musik Frohsinn Oberburg were also involved in Uppermill.
While one member of Uppermill Band travelled all the way from Canada just to take part!
In Greenfield, Dorset-based Shaftesbury Town Silver Band was represented on the bass drum while the streets of Delph were packed with walkers.
It was great to see the huge turnout for the Whit walks, many years ago it was also huge in Manchester and where I live now I’m afraid its no longer celerbrated.
Great to see these pics. I grew up in Uppermill, joined Delph band club as achild and played tenor horn a couple of times in the band on Whit Friday. That was back in the late 70s when Ted Byrnes used to sell paper bags filled with dried peas and pea shooters! The streets were covered in peas the next day! I left Uppermill in 1986 and have only been back to visit once since then.
Good to see Buckley’s still going strong. Wonder if they still do their yummy spiced and iced squares of fruit cake?!
Lol, my main memory of Whit Friday is the pea shooters!!!!
Was Ted Byrnes the guy who owned the newsagents???
Great to see the Whit Walks going strong. Fantastic tradition. I met my wife on Whit Friday, 1970, in Uppermill. Poor lass!!!
Wow, fabulous Whit Marches 2023! I drove up from London, meeting a Sheffield-based friend to travel to Saddleworth. No uncertainty surrounding a rail strike was going to stop me enjoying an event I’d long wanted to experience. Diggle first to see Brighouse and Rastrick and subsequent bands. Then we hoofed it over the hill to Delph and were rewarded by a splendid show down the high street (percussionist stormtroopers included) and a great “bandstand” round the corner. Finally we walked via Dobcross to Uppermill, where the police and security staff were patient and cheerful, given the exuberance of visitors (!) Congratulations and thanks to all who organised and supported this amazing day!