Saturday in Saddleworth - Whit Friday Band Contests

Eight days ago was Whit Friday, and last Saturday's photo showed the Saddleworth Whit Walks in Uppermill.

In the evening of Whit Friday, the Whit Friday Band Contests take place at many of the villages in the area. The contests developed because a number of brass bands were in the area for the walks in the morning.

There are contests in the Saddleworth villages of Uppermill, Greenfield, Dobcross, Delph, Denshaw, Diggle, Greenfield, Friezland, Lydgate, Grotton and Scouthead, as well as in Lees, Greenacres, Mossley, Ashton-under-Lyne, Hurst Cross, Stalybridge, Stalybridge Celtic, Heyrod, Carrbrook, Audenshaw, Droylsden and Dukinfield. The Whit Friday band contests are unique to this area.

The contests each have two parts - a marching (deportment) competition, where each band marches along the road towards the event venue, followed by a concert piece, where each band plays one from a range of set pieces, with the adjudicator hidden in an upstairs room or a caravan so that he does not know which band is playing.

More info here. Plenty of videos on here on YouTube.

130 bands were involved in last year's contests. The biggest event is at Delph, which attracted 78 bands last year!

Last Friday, after a lovely sunny morning, it started to rain just as the band contests got under way! So the photograph above was actually taken at last year's contest and shows the Dobcross Youth Band marching down the street in Delph.

See Google Aerial View of this location.