The 2024 Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival will be held on Sat 7th & Sun 8th September.
This website will contain the programme of events, performers, route & schedule as and when each is finalised.
The Rushbearing weekend continues to be a unique local event for family and friends, which contributes greatly to the excellent community spirit that we have in the local area, and which Sowerby Bridge and the surrounding areas rightly hold in high esteem.
Our route over the weekend will take us from Warley village through Sowerby Bridge on the Saturday, and on Sunday from Sowerby village with a church service and then over the tops to Cottonstones and on to Triangle and Ripponden.
Thanks must go to our sponsors and venues for hosting us over the weekend. We have raised over £21,000 of vital funds for local charities & good causes and the weekend contributes significantly to the local economy.
We always welcome suggestions for charity donations and love to hear from local sponsors who may wish to contribute to our significant running costs – please contact us here or via our Facebook page.
Thanks as ever must go to our committee and members for all their efforts in putting the event on. There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes, throughout the year and over the weekend.
Thanks also to the dance teams, musicians and entertainers that accompany us on the route and add to the spectacle of the event.
What is Rushbearing?
Rushbearing is a centuries-old tradition – a late summer opportunity for community merriment and revelry. Our Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival is one of only a few instances of this singular English custom still being celebrated annually.
Rushbearing itself dates back several centuries to the time when church floors consisted of little more than stone flags or beaten earth and rushes were used as a winter covering. Each year, in late summer, the old and rotten rushes were cleared out and new ones taken to the churches in carts. Human nature being what it is, this annual traditional custom developed into an excuse for celebration involving revelry, music, dancing and much drinking of strong ales.
Over the course of the weekend, our own festival, sees the progress of the Rushbearing procession around seven towns and villages visiting many churches, local hostelries, cricket & bowling clubs along the way.
The focal point of the procession is the sixteen feet high, two wheeled, handsomely decorated and thatched rushcart. A team of ladies take turns to ride on top of the cart as it is pulled by sixty local men dressed in Panama hats, white shirts, black trousers and clogs. Accompanying them are a group of supporters in Edwardian dress along with some of the region’s finest musicians and morris dancing teams to provide entertainment for the crowds.
WHERE DOES THE FUN HAPPEN?
SOWERBY BRIDGE AND SURROUNDING VILLAGES
Sowerby Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley of Calderdale in West Yorkshire. Sowerby Bridge is situated about 3 miles west of Halifax and is easily accessible via the A58 & A646 and from Junctions 22 & 24 of the M62.
