KNOTTINGLEY CARNIVAL
by TERRY SPENCER, B.A. (Hons), Ph D
FROM FAIRS, FESTIVALS and FROLICS,
KNOTTINGLEY, Circa 1840 - 2003
Volume One (2003)
PAGE TWO
Origins to 1929
Scarborough was the most popular coastal location and was particularly
favoured by the Wesleyans who visited the resort regularly from 1883 with
occasional trips to Bridlington as an alternative venue. (49) Both the
east coast towns were also favoured by the Congregationalists in the years
preceding the Great War. (50) Also, by the turn of the century Blackpool
had developed a reputation for wholesome entertainment and was
increasingly visited by local parties. (51)
Occasionally the longer distance trips proved to be of a marathon nature.
On Feast Tuesday, 1890, a Wesleyan party comprising 400 Sunday School
pupils and friends made a journey to Scarborough by train. Arriving as
early as 8.30am, the group were back home in less than 12 hours. The trip
stood in sharp contrast to that undertaken by the same group two years
later. Delay in starting out occurred due to there being insufficient
tickets to meet the demand and once underway the train was so heavily
ladened that the locomotive was only very slowly able to overcome the
steep gradients and on one occasion lost valuable time by having to shunt
backwards and build up sufficient head of steam to surmount a challenging
rise successfully. The outward journey took four hours and the trippers
seem to have compensated for lost time by delaying their return, reaching
Knottingley after a faultless journey at 11.00pm. (52) Again, in 1934, the
employees of Carters’ Knottingley Brewery travelled to Blackpool by motor
coach. Setting out at 8.00am on Sunday morning the group arrived at their
destination around lunchtime and stayed until 7.00pm but did not reach
Knottingley until 3.00am on Bank Holiday Monday. Thus, for about six hours
of pleasure the party endured and overall journey of about 13 hours. (53)
The tradition of the annual excursion was eventually adopted by the local
workingmens’ clubs. In 1928 the National Association of Discharged
Soldiers & Sailors Club inaugurated an annual outing for members and their
families and in 1930 took 300 people to Blackpool by train. Unfortunately,
the day was marred by non-stop pouring rain. Nor were conditions any
better on the east coast where St. Botolphs Choir experienced constant
rain. Undaunted by the adverse conditions, the N.A.D.S.A.S Club visited
Blackpool again in 1932, this time enjoying favourable weather. (54)
Works excursions were in vogue from the 1920s occasionally characterised
by a degree of paternalism. The Carter workforce was accompanied by the
Company Secretary, Mr. T. Whitehead, who, although travelling separately
by car, was there to ‘keep an eye’ on events. Another aspect of
paternalism is seen in the outings undertaken by workers of Stainsby &
Lyon in the 1920s who made annual trips at August Bank Holiday to one or
other of the residences of their employees, either Whitley Lodge or Hillam
Hall. (55) Trips to the latter venue were undertaken by bus but those to
Whitley were invariably undertaken by barges lent for the occasion by John
Harker & Co., Ltd., one of the Lyon & Lyon group of companies. In 1925 for
example, having reached Whitley the visitors enjoyed a garden party
following sports and games and watched pony racing held in conjunction
with the village show. (56) When the event was held at Hillam Hall the
garden party was enhanced by music provided by the Knottingley Silver
Prize Band and on at least one occasion the Band occupied one of three
barges, playing as they cruised along the canal on the annual outing to
Whitley Lodge. (57)
For local inhabitants less fortunate or in some cases, too poor to enjoy
the pleasure of an excursion, there was always the delight afforded by
conditions near at hand. One event, given suitable weather, was bathing on
the river Aire, another traversing Brotherton Marsh. In the mid 1920s as a
downturn in the national economy began to be reflected locally with high
unemployment and declining prosperity, it was reported that at Bank
Holiday, “Many found interest and relaxation across the Marsh”,
whilst the town almost acquired a reputation as a holiday resort as
spectators gathered in Aire Street to watch “Swimming in the River Aire
by crowds of young folk during the present hot weather”, with “The
ferryboat in incessant use.” (58)
The advent of the Second World War brought encouragement of ‘Stay At Home
Holidays’, as much from necessity as from desire, but following the war’s
end the tradition of annual excursions was revived, particularly by local
clubs. Numerous chartered trains or occasionally long lines of coaches,
provided ‘transports of delight’ for the local populace during the
immediate post war decades. By that time, however, the excursions were no
longer regarded as an adjunct to Feast time. The resurgence was relatively
brief as a mass desire for new forms of pleasure and the increase in
private vehicle ownership which provided the means of access to the same,
sounded the death knell of the simple pleasures which were the
accompaniment of the Feast and even of the venerable institution itself.
Thus, at the commencement of the third millennium only Knottingley
Carnival struggles on to retain a vestige of the customary pleasures once
enjoyed by the inhabitants of the town.
Knottingley Carnival began in 1927 when, following the formation of a
representative charity committee to replace the defunct Dispensary
Committee the previous year, it was decided to widen the scope for fund
raising through the introduction of a gala day. (59)
The concept of a gala day was in fact a revival of a previous observance,
for such events were well established by the 1870s as an annual feature of
Hospital Sunday fund raising efforts.
In 1878, a disturbance occurred on the evening of 8th July at Knottingley
Gala, involving a dispute with a gatekeeper concerning admission charges
which led to the parties involved appearing before Pontefract Magistrates
the following week. More significantly, in a financial context, the
disturbance broke up the gala with only 3s 8d taken in gate receipts. (60)
Following that setback the gala appears to have been held in conjunction
with the town’s horticultural show following the necessity to relocate the
show in Howards Field due to lack of sufficient space in the Town Hall,
and the whole event was enlarged in 1881 by the introduction of the flower
show. Before the end of the following decade the gala included athletic
sports, football and horse grooming. The Great War resulted in the demise
of the town gala but when the concept was revived in the late twenties
memories of former years were still sufficiently fresh to ensure that the
reintroduction of the event was designated as a ‘gala’ rather than a
‘carnival’ day.
Indeed, a pattern had been created by the Peace Celebrations of July 1919,
for no less at Knottingley than anywhere else within the land, the formal
conclusion of the Great War was a cause for celebration and to this end a
Peace Celebration Committee under the Chairmanship of Cr. T. Worfolk,
Chairman of the Urban District Council, had been established following the
Armistice. The membership of the new committee included local councillors,
ministers of religion representing all denominations, head teachers and
Sunday School superintendents with Messrs A. Berry and E. Cramp as joint
secretaries.
At 1.00pm on Sunday 19th July, groups of local people began to assemble in
front of the Town Hall, the social focus of the inhabitants of the town
for more than half a century, and excitement grew as decorated wagons,
drays, perambulator’s etc., arrived for the commencement of the
procession. Notwithstanding the fact that the day was a Saturday, the
local schoolchildren assembled at their respective schools from which they
were marched under the supervision of their teachers to join the excited
throng outside the Town Hall.
At 2.00pm, to the accompaniment of the bells of nearby St. Botolphs
Church, the parade marshals, Messrs G. Elliott and G. Baker, mounted on
horses, began to form the procession which, led by the Silver Prize Band,
proceeded through crowd-lined upper Aire Street to the Flatts.
A dozen floats, with two mounted on lorries, all festooned with flags and
bunting of red, white and blue and adorned with laurels, peace slogans and
portraits of the King and Queen and service chiefs, lined up for judging
by Messrs C. Shepherd, J.T. Taylor and A. Morris.
Prominent among the tableaux were those of Knottingley Scouts, arranged by
Scoutmaster, Mr. R. Jackson, and that of the inhabitants of the Holes,
organised by Mr. G. Lockwood, which took first and second prizes
respectively.
The Scouts, who were to undertake a tour of the battlefields of the
Western Front the following year, depicted a hospital scene with a wounded
soldier receiving the attention of nurses and orderlies. The Holes
tableaux grouped together representatives of the armed services on land,
sea and air, male and female, linked by the central figure of Britannia,
depicted by Miss Lily Starks. The two tableaux drew admiring comment and
much applause but paradoxically, the scenes evoked tender memories of
loved ones lost or maimed which occasioned many tear-dimmed eyes, making
the event one of sad remembrance and joy co-mingled.
Prizes were also awarded to Mr. G. Elliott for the best decorated
two-horse dray, driven by G. Elliott junior, that of Bagley & Co., driven
by W. Rowley, gaining second place. In the single horse dray category,
Bagley & Co., (T. Link) triumphed, with a dray belonging to Smith Bros.,
(J. Gillian) taking second place.
Next, the Band accompanied community singing by the massed throng. The
massed singing concluded with the presentation of the Military Medal to
Lance Corporal A. Pennistone of the 6th Battalion of the Yorks & Lancs
Regiment and the singing of the National Anthem. The parade then moved
off, proceeding along lower Aire Street, Marsh End, Low Green, Racca Green
and Weeland Road, back to the Town Hall.
The procession included the members of the Organising Committee, members
and officials of the Knottingley Urban District Council, 200 ex-servicemen
of the Discharged Soldiers & Sailors Association headed by their
President, ex-C.S.M. Baker. Uniformed members of the Services followed,
dragging along in a push cart a booted and helmeted effigy of Kaiser Bill,
to the delighted applause and laughter of the bystanders, Clergymen,
representatives of the Oddfellows and Foresters friendly societies,
wearing their lodge regalia, officials of the Trades & Labour Council,
Scouts and pupils of all the local schools, the route being walked by the
elementary pupils whilst the infants undertook the journey on wagons.
Fancy dress features included Miss Nora Jackson as a courtier, mounted
upon a pony, and she was accompanied by her sister Lilian Jackson, dressed
as a flower girl and riding a decorated bicycle. Two tiny tots, George
Shaw and Lionel Bamford, rode decorated tricycles and a goat swathed in a
Union Jack, was led by another small boy. The rear of the parade was
brought up by the towns schoolchildren, accompanied by their teachers, who
carried flags of all nations which were waved with great enthusiasm en
route.
The town had a festive air which was heightened by the multitude of
decorated houses and shops in response to the several prizes offered by
the Committee. The whole proceeding had an appearance of unity which,
compared to the equally enthusiastic but diverse celebrations which marked
the end of the Second World War a generation later, bestowed a carnival
nature on the event. (61)
The children then returned to their respective day schools where tea was
served to scholars and Sunday School pupils followed by the presentation
of celebration mugs, parents being excluded from this aspect of the days
activity. At 5.30pm, the finals of the school sports commenced, the heats
having been run the previous day.
The inaugural gala day seems to have passed largely unobserved by the
local press apart from the publication of a couple of cartoons submitted
by Knottingley artist, Alfred Smith, drawing public attention to the
event. The probable explanation is that the predominant feature of the
gala was the childrens’ sports, the results of which were fully reported.
(62) Similarly, the second annual gala, again held in Braim’s Field, was
largely a charity sports event. The promoters aimed to raise £15 but ideal
weather ensured a good attendance and a sum in excess of £30 was obtained.
The sum raised was all the more notable, for whereas the previous year the
prizes had been donated, in 1928 the Committee had to meet the cost of the
prizes from the takings. (63)
By the time of the third anniversary in July 1929, an ambitious and varied
programme had been devised, transforming the event from a gala sports into
an event worthy of re-designation as Knottingley Carnival. Much of the
credit for the transformation was due to the increasing involvement of the
town’s schoolteachers allied to the organisational ability of the new
Secretary, Mr. A. Pickard. The townsfolk, already staunch supporters of
the Hospital charities, responded to the renewed enthusiasm of the local
Infirmary Committee and despite the hardships of the period, ensured that
flags, streamers and bunting bedecked the town on Carnival Day.
Defying the chill, showery weather the day brought, crowds lined the
streets as the Silver Prize Band led a procession which included a troop
of the Church Lads’ Brigade, fancy dress characters and comic bands,
followed by tableaux on drays, from the Flatts. Passing along Marsh End
and Fernley Green to Weeland Road, thence via Hill Top and Forge Hill
before retracing its path, it wended its way along Chapel Street and Aire
Street to Braims Field, now the regular venue for the event.
Elements of the Carnival included the best decorated cycle/motor cycle,
best groomed horse, a maypole dancing competition, a gymnastic display by
Pontefract Welfare Institute, and a competition to guess the weight of a
heifer. A comprehensive programme of athletic sports featuring classes for
both children and adults, occupied the afternoon and evening sessions,
throughout which periods the Silver Band entertained the crowd with
musical selections. Equally welcome were the refreshment provided and
served by the joint elements of the town’s Ladies Committee. (64)
The Carnival was a tour de force for the Ropewalk School pupils who in
addition to winning the tableaux prize for ‘Vikings’ also came top in the
infants section of the sports and won the boys’ relay race, an event open
to all schools in the Pontefract Division of the local education
authority, and triumphed in the tug of war event. The School also entered
a team in the maypole and country dancing sections of the Carnival
programme, while a number of individual prize winners were pupils at the
Ropewalk School. (65)
To digress: the role of the comic bands is worthy of recall. A number of
such ensembles existed in the Knottingley neighbourhood in the 1920s.
Utilising kazoos, comb and paper, harmonicas and penny whistles for
melodic line and cymbals, tambourines and a variety of domestic utensils
for percussion and visual effect, the raison d’ etre of these
pseudo-harmonic groups were to bring cheer to a local population in the
throes of economic depression while raising money for charitable purposes.
A seriousness of purpose underlay the comic façade and the rivalry between
the groups was manifested in fierce competition which arose from pride in
appearance and achievement. (66) The aim of such groups is encapsulated in
the name of the winners of the first prize in 1929, the Pontefract
Charities Comic Band. The runners-up, with an awe inspiring title were the
Knottingley Bobby Dazzlers.
For the record, additional prize winners at the first Carnival were
Margaret Thompson and Beryl Branford as the ‘Erasmic Twins’ and Ralph and
Derek Ward as ‘Son of a Sheik’ and ‘Cupid Doll’ in the respective
childrens’ and adults fancy dress categories. The best decorated
cycle/motor cycle was won by Percy Bedford as ‘Carters Brewery’ (a variety
of beer mats and posters adorning the vehicle), while in second place,
Horace Higgins for ‘Raleigh Giraffe’ (no prizes for guessing the make of
his cycle?). Mr. Fred Backhouse won the prize for exhibiting the best
groomed horse, while the maypole dancing competition was won by
Featherstone National School. The judges of the various classes were
Messrs McGowan and Shenton and the event which it was anticipated would
raise between £30-£40 generated £107 when final accounts were published.
(67)
Dr. Terry Spencer
NOTES:
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