Marsden Cuckoo Festival 2010 Coming Up

Marsden – the small Pennine village with perpetual events and festivals – has it’s annual Cuckoo Festival coming up. The of the 23rd, 24th and 25th will see the village filled with people yet again.

For those that don’t know about this event, it stems from The Cuckoo Legend

Many years ago the people of Marsden were aware that when the cuckoo arrived, so did the spring and sunshine. They tried to prolong its stay by building a wall around it.

Unfortunately the wall wasn’t high enough as the legend says…

…It were nobbut just wun course too low!

[flickr size=”small” float=”left”]http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyjs/3505601018/[/flickr]
One of my personal highlights last year was the arrival of the ‘leggers‘ at Standedge tunnel after legging all the way through from “t’other side o’ t’ills”. This was in no way due to the free beer and cake that they brought.. Hmmm… Click on the photo for more pictures.

Amongst other things, the village will have craft fair, vintage motorcycles, maypole dancing, belly dancing, brass bands as well as the Grand Cuckoo Procession.

I will be there on the Saturday along with some other local photographers with a selection of prints on one of the stalls so come and say hello if you are around!

Marsden is within easy reach from Leeds and Manchester via the train and is only a 15-20 minute drive from Huddersfield or Oldham.

Photos are Copyright Gary J Stevenson