SLIDESHOW: Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival 2015 delights visitors
The main events of this year’s Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival got into full swing yesterday (Saturday).
The procession started from St John’s Chuch at 10.15am, with gents in Panama hats, white shirts, black trousers and clogs hauling a 16ft rushcart around the churches and pubs of Halifax, Sowerby Bridge and the Ryburn Valley.
The festival is the only one of its kind in the country and dates back to the 17th century when villages would gather new rushes for the church floors each year.
Celebrations conclude today with a Songs of Praise service at St Bartholomew’s Church on Old Bank inRipponden at 5.30pm.