Officers

Gareth J Baigent

Chairman

A second-generation member, with over 25 years of involvement, Gareth first started bucket collecting before being drafted on to the cart aged 17 years old. First approached by Phillip at a large fundraising barbeque, after a few bottles of Lindeboom, Gareth agreed to take on the role of Chairman in 2016 – let that be a warning to you all! The Chairman role is one that he is hugely proud to perform – following in the footsteps of Fred Knights, Garry Stringfellow and John Coupe, our only Chairmen since 1977.

Having grown up with the cart, he has known all members of the Association a long period of time and these relationships help to ensure the success of our event continues to build and grow each year. Through the foresight of Phillip, Garry and John, the event is being slowly transitioned and passed down to the younger generations to take forward, something which does not happen across all associations or committees.

Gareth is responsible for running our monthly committee meetings, which are as much of a good reason to get together each month for a catch up and a few drinks, as they are for helping put the event itself together. Gareth was responsible for arranging our 2019 return to Aachen, fulfilling on his manifesto promise of two weekends of Rushbearing a year!

Phillip Whitaker

Vice-Chairman/ Honorary Vice President

A founding member and hugely proud of his long-standing membership of the Association and an impeccable turn out record since the event’s inception in 1977.

Phillip has an impressive badge collection and is the man to go to, for clogs of all sizes and running repairs.

Phillip can be found on the shafts of the cart given his size and standing!

He was responsible for our first ventures over to Aachen, Halifax’s twin town, in 1999 and 2001.

If you have a spare hour or three then ask him his views on Rushbearing subs . . .

Garry Stringfellow

Honorary Vice President

Along with Fred Knights, Garry is largely responsible for the inception of the event in 1977 when they planned Rushbearing as a one-off festival, intended to unite the local community and to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

The event has gone from strength to strength since then and Garry has gone on to research and write several books on the subject of Rushbearing and its origins (available in all good book shops) and has even commissioned some artwork, which is also available to buy.

Garry often does local talks on the background to the event and these are well worth attending.

John Coupe

Honorary Vice President

Having first witnessed our event in 1989 at the Old Bridge Inn, Ripponden (a Chairman’s favourite!), John joined the committee shortly afterwards and then became our Chairman between 2004 & 2016. He is the self-proclaimed ‘King of String’ of Packaging World, Sowerby Bridge fame. John was largely responsible for the modern-day development of rushbearing, turning it in to the greatest event in Calderdale.

He has also led the way with putting his stamp on allowable attire over the weekend.

His sentence came to an end when Phillip managed to persuade Gareth to take over prior to John’s impending retirement. Since then John can usually be found at his beloved Ryburn golf club or for a catch up at the monthly committee meetings in one of his many locals.

Lisa M Baigent

Secretary

The only secretary to ‘never do minutes.’ Lisa is also our Head of Cart Maidens and has the unenviable task of organising the rota for the Maidens to sit on top of the cart and other duties such as leading out the procession banner.

Lisa also keeps the cart pullers in check, and they all aim to keep on the right side of her or they know the consequences!

Alastair G Baigent

Treasurer

Our long-standing treasurer who holds the key to the purse strings and is the gentleman in charge of our famous red collection buckets.

The event generates significant funds for charities thanks to his efforts and we all look forward to his summary at the AGM.

It is thought he actually enjoys the week after the event even more than the event itself, counting and sorting all the coins from the collection buckets and ‘weighing them in’.

Tom Stringfellow

Cart Manager

Tom has been involved in Rushbearing since 1977 having been made to pose for publicity shots at the tender age of 2 and a bit. Having taken on numerous responsibilities over the years he has finally settled into the role of Cart Manager – responsible for maintenance and preparation of our spectacular rushcart. He looks forward to August each year where he gets to combine his passion for real ale, with bundling rushes and passing on skills to the next generation.

Tom is also a member of Sowerby Bridge Morris and spends the event weekend switching between various outfits to cover all manner of roles and responsibilities!

Andy Whitworth

Procession Manager

Andy has been our Procession Manager for a number of years and has the unenviable task of dealing with the authorities and the traffic management company prior to the event and then trying to keep everyone safe over the nine miles and two days of the event itself - no small feat.

Andy can be found for a weekly debrief at Hill Crest Bowling Club or the Hogs Head on a Friday night, along with our Chairman and many other members.

John R Clay

Cart Foreman

‘JR’ has been involved in the festival since a baby and being Rodney Oldfield’s godson, he was always destined for the Cart Foreman role having served his apprenticeship under Rodney, Graham and Alex.

Head of the Bowler hat brigade, JR keeps the cart pullers in check and the event running to time - no mean feat.

He has a great understanding of possible misdemeanours on the cart having invented most of them in the first place.

Equally at home in giving a speech to the pullers or leading the singing for ‘entertainment.’

Ian W Whitaker

Deputy Cart Foreman

Ian or IWWW as he is known, is JR’s second in command. Ian has been involved since a child and progressed through the ranks to Deputy Cart Foreman.

Ian has been on all the Aachen trips and stepped up as Cart Foreman on our 2019 trip to Aachen. His son, Max is currently serving a long apprenticeship to come through the ranks.

Ian was responsible for the first (and last) Unimog on the procession provided by his company, GVA.

His love of Aachen kebabs knows no boundaries.

Lauren Carlton

Minutes Secretary & Dance Team Co-ordinator

Lauren was railroaded into being minutes secretary and is learning her trade but has already started to put her stamp on the role, such as a laminate register to our monthly committee meeting – a nice touch. In 2023 she took over the role of Dance Team Co-ordinator, responsible for luring teams to perform over the weekend.

Lauren and her father Howard are without doubt the biggest fans of Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing.

If you are feeling brave then enquire about their tattoo collections, you may be pleasantly surprised!

Mark Strangways

Badge Manager

After serving his apprenticeship under Jim Rider, Mark is now full-time Badge Manager and vendor, and sales continue to go from strength to strength.

Mark has a love of Series 1 Land Rovers and when not attending committee meetings he can be found in a shed, running ‘Ryburn Men in Sheds’.

Jim Rider

Senior Badge Consultant

After many years selling our wares, Jim has now retired to an advisory role.

When not designing our famous annual leather badges, Jim can be found sampling ales up and down the valley as part of CAMRA, just to ensure we have enough quality wet stuff available for our weekend – a truly selfless act.

Robert Mackenzie

Rotary Representative / Marshall

Robert is an excellent conduit between Rotary and our committee and helps provide the marshals for the event.

The Rotary have acted as our route marshals on the two-day event for around 15 years and are a key part of our safety on the 9-mile route. This involves them providing and coordinating c. 25 marshals over the course of the weekend.

Originally this role was filled by Police officers but as policing costs have increased and available officers for weekend work has decreased, following ongoing discussions with the police, we were looking at incurring a significant bill (in the thousands for each year) were this type of policing of the event to continue.
At that time Rotary stepped in and supported our event plan and risk assessment provided to Calderdale Council and after a couple of years of dual running, we were allowed to continue to self-police and self-marshal, entirely down to the help and support of the Rotary.

We are truly grateful for this as without them we would have had to employ the police and through their continued involvement they allow us to save thousands of pounds of costs over the years and allow us to donate even more to local charities.

Fred Knights

Former Chairman & Honorary President

Fred Knights, Honorary President of the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Association, passed away peacefully on the 6th May 2019 aged 88 years old. Fred was the much-loved husband of the late Rita, loving Dad of Jill and Sally and father-in-law of David. He was a devoted Grandad to Chloe and Ellie.

It is Fred’s late wife, Sowerby Bridge born Rita, who bears responsibility for the introducing of him to the locality. Hailing from Portsmouth in Hampshire, Fred was doing his National Service in the RAF in Lancashire, when he met Rita on Blackpool Promenade in 1949 during the first post-war illuminations. After they married, they settled down in Sowerby Bridge in 1953. First he worked as a Halifax Borough policeman, then as an education welfare officer and finally as a social worker until he retired in 1991. Fred has always been closely involved in the community for which he built up a deep attachment.

Fred was a wonderful gentleman and it was his vision alongside Garry Stringfellow in 1977, to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, such that a Rushbearing Festival was revived to unite the local community of Sowerby Bridge. It was the community aspect, linked to an interest in folk custom, that made Fred such an eager convert to Garry’s vision of a revived Rushbearing festival. Fred saw it as a form of local regeneration - a restoration of Sowerby Bridge’s pride and self-esteem. What he could also offer in particular was man-power, mainly through his links with local Scouting. Fred had been instrumental in creating the 12th Halifax Sea Scouts based at the Sowerby Bridge canalside wharf since 1960. This group and other local Scout troops played a prominent part in the building and pulling of the first revived Rushcart, creating a link that has never been broken.

Fred was very much a hands-on founder member, who cut rushes, built and pulled the cart, served as our Chairman for 20 years and in 2000 was made our Life President.

Without Fred’s vision and commitment to Sowerby Bridge, the town would not be the same thriving, vibrant community it now is. As well as our very own Rushbearing festival, Fred also found time to have significant involvement in the organisation of the British Waterways festival, the 12th Halifax Sea Scouts, Tuel Lane Scout & Guide band, the local Scope charity, the Sowerby Bridge Forum, the redevelopment of the Wharf area and of course was a founder of the Sowerby Bridge Morris Dancers in 1979.

For those who attended the funeral, it was deserving and fitting of the great man he was and he will never be forgotten. He will be missed greatly by all of us who knew him and his legacy lives on through our Festival and many other aspects of life in and around Sowerby Bridge.

Rest in peace, Fred Knights, from all of us at the Association.

Rodney Oldfield

Former Cart Foreman & Honorary Life Member

Rodney Oldfield was an original founding member, our Cart Foreman for many years and an Honorary Life Member who sadly passed away in 2020.

There were two sides to Rodney and both of them were good sides; one being the quiet self-effacing man, averse to publicity and the other was the one that emerged at Rushbearing, the Cart Foreman, a man very much in high profile and showing distinctly extrovert tendencies.

Most people would find it impossible to control 60 pullers, 10 brakemen and manoeuvring almost a ton of Rushcart along a route of 9 miles of narrow lanes and streets over the course of a weekend. As far as Rodney was concerned, he simply did the job required and was the perfect man for the role. He had the respect of all Rushbearers and kept everyone under control with minimal fuss or hassle. He was a showman when required but demanded and was always given respect, regardless of generation or age.

The art of the cart foreman lies in striking the balance between safety and enjoyment. The former is paramount and Rodney always had this mastered. Rodney had the appropriate loud and booming voice when the occasion demanded it and always looked every inch the figure of authority in his bowler hat and waistcoat. Nevertheless the whole event is focussed on enjoyment and Rodney was well aware that his team of pullers and brakemen eagerly looked forward to their refreshment stops.

Away from the Rushbearing, Rodney came across as a benevolent, white-whiskered father figure, an image that sits nicely on a founder member.

Once again, Scouting provided the introduction, Rodney was a Cub Scout leader in 1977 and he is said to have smiled at the recollection of how Scout leaders were approached with the apparent ridiculous suggestion of donning clogs to pull a cart through the streets of Sowerby Bridge. Within minutes of setting off on that first Rushbearing, Rodney became an enthusiastic convert. His enthusiasm for the event never waned and, as with other founding members, his family were closely involved. His involvement at the AGMs and the annual discussion of the price of members fees will continue ad infinitum.

Over the course of the Rushbearing weekends, Rodney usually had a few surprises up his sleeve for the pullers, whether it be dolling out ‘L’ plates to the novices, handing out yellow (or red!) card warnings for bad behaviour or organising suitable props to adorn the official ‘calls of nature’ stops. Traditionally, towards the end of the event, Rodney was famous for his oration to the cart & pullers from the roof of a garage near Ripponden. In a jovial atmosphere, the pullers usually found that nothing had escaped his notice. That said, it always ended on a positive, “chests high, stamp it out lads and do yourselves proud”, which were the usual final closing words before the cart was sent on the home straight down to St. Bartholomew’s in Ripponden.

We were very much looking forward to celebrating Rodney’s life at this year’s event and our traditional annual badge for 2020 will be a tribute to him. The badge will be available this year for members and next year on general sale. We continue to miss his entertaining wit and good humour.

Rest in peace Rodney, from all at the Association.