Non-league club ensuring Whit Friday traditions continue

South Wales Guardian

a day ago

The Pitching In Northern Premier League Division One West side are looking forward to welcoming brass bands from far and wide to their ground on June 13th as they play a central role in a tradition dating back to the 1800s.
Mossley's Events Coordinator Nicky Iqbal is leading a team of volunteers to ensure the Whit Walks and band contest continue to bring the community together across Saddleworth and Tameside.
'It's all run by volunteers, it's all community based. It's dubbed as the greatest free festival on Earth and it brings people together. It's just wonderful,' she said.
'It's a massive celebration day, from 10am in the morning through until midnight.
'All my friends think I'm absolutely barmy. 'Why on earth would you do that for brass bands?' But when it gets to the 10th or 11th band, you're just taken away with the moment and the atmosphere.'
Mossley AFC fans on the terraces of Seel Park (Image: Mossley AFC/Nicky Iqbal)The band contest sees brass bands from Australia to Switzerland and all over the north west, including renowned groups like Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, Fairey Band, Foden's and Black Dyke Band, compete across approximately 10 venues.
Each band travels round to the venues on a coach where they perform and get marked.
'They play blind to an adjudicator who doesn't know who they are so it's a bit like a very early 1800s version of The Voice,' Iqbal explained.
'It's a good atmosphere. At any venue, at any given time, you can have about 10 coaches queuing, so it creates a really good vibe.
'At the end, all the scores are collected and then the results are announced anytime throughout the morning and up to midday, a bit like election day.'
The contest follows on from the Whit Walks, another tradition in the north west, where schools and churches walk in processions with banners led out by a local brass band.
'They're both very old traditions, and you find that they don't happen much anymore in a lot of areas,' Iqbal added.
'It's unique in Tameside and Saddleworth that we've managed to keep them, but it is a trial keeping them because there's no funding for them.
'You're dealing with just over a third of the town's population coming in and out of your premises throughout the day, and it's really, really important that we keep it going.'
As a result, Mossley AFC look to the support of the local community in the shape of volunteers to keep festivities going.
Fundamental to those efforts are volunteers who are already involved in the football club.
Iqbal is a committee member at Mossley, and is set to join the directors, after first offering to help with ground maintenance during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The University of Salford business lecturer was swept up by the non-league spirit and is now using her knowledge in events, community and communication to help the club, but she hopes more will join her to volunteer at the Whit Friday Band Contest.
'With any volunteering, it's what you get back out of it and you know that you've contributed to what is the biggest event in your town. It's got about 11,000 plus people,' she said.
'The funding has been stripped back year by year, as well as the support for policing and security so you get more and more dependent upon volunteers.'
Overlooking the natural beauty of Saddleworth Moor, Seel Park acts as a key community hub all year round as the club host events such as the Mossley 10k, the town's biggest fireworks display and weddings.
Their support of the local population also extends to the day-to-day, with their facilities used by local running club, and provisions such as the A Team and Monday Club providing a space for disabled and disadvantaged adults.
But the Whit Friday contest holds a special poignancy for those at Mossley, owing to the legacy of lifelong supporter and volunteer Paul Harrison.
'Paul and Jenny Harrison ran the band contest for decades. Paul was one of the groundsmen at Mossley, and he sadly died very suddenly of cancer three years ago,' said Iqbal.
'It's really important that we keep that event out of all events, because of what it means to the community and because of the hard work that Paul did.
'It's lovely that his family, his wife Jenny, and his daughters carry on supporting and volunteering at the band contest every year. It keeps Paul's legacy alive because he was so well respected in the town.
'It really is a community. People come to the football club now as one of those hub points where everybody comes to meet, whether it's on a Saturday or a Tuesday, to watch football.'
Find volunteering opportunities near you at https://pitchinginvolunteers.co.uk/.