Colourful fun at Ambleside Rushbearing

Children, families and friends processed round the village with bunches of rushes intertwined with summer flowers, in the same time-honoured way as countless generations before them.

The reference to “sun and showers” in the words of the Rushbearing hymn was never more accurate as the briefest glimpse of sunshine momentarily illuminated leaden skies, but not even pouring rain could spoil the colourful spectacle that the poet William Wordsworth once loved to watch.

The 400-year-old custom dates back to Elizabethan times when Rushbearings commonly marked the strewing of freshly gathered sweet-smelling rushes to carpet the earthen floors of churches and provide a new layer of insulation. The custom became obsolete as earth floors were replaced by stone flags, but is still re-enacted in a handful of places including Ambleside and Grasmere.

The procession, accompanied by Burneside Brass Band, was led by the Harp of David, bedecked in white flowers and carried by Luke Todd. The World was carried by Greg Meschino, the Crown by Christine Wright, the Cross by Marina Thomlinson and the Churchwardens’ Staves by Sheila Ogden and Helen Minton.

The procession paused in the Market Place for the Raising of Bearings and to sing the Rushbearing Hymn before returning to St Mary’s Parish Church for a short service led by the Rev Nick Hallam, who showed photographs from past Rushbearings as far back as the 1880s.

After the service, children were rewarded with a slab of gingerbread baked to Ambleside’s traditional Rushbearing recipe, followed by the children’s Rushbearing Sports and Loughrigg Fell Race.

The sports were organised by Ambleside Firefighters, and the winners of the Loughrigg Fell Race Clive Braithwaite Memorial Trophy were William Durkin (14.04) with Alex Jackson (14-15) in second and Alifie Wilkin (15-11) in third. The first girl was Bethan Rowley (14.24) and she was followed over the line by Maisie Evans (15.10).