As part of the Heritage Open Days in September I did a presentation on Carnivals in Trafford before the Second World War. The event was held within the splendour of the Members' Chamber in Sale Town Hall, surrounded by pictures of the former mayors of Sale who held that position before the town was absorbed into the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in 1974. The presentation drew material from my book 'Carnivals, Contests and Coronations' as well as new material unearthed since it was published and photographs from the Trafford Local Studies Photographic Collection that were not included in the book.
The highlight of the day for me was the showing of a film from the Trafford collection of the procession at Sale and Ashton on Mersey Carnival in 1927, which passed right in front of the Sale Town Hall building in which the presentation was given. The film shows floats, marching bands and a number of local Morris dancing and entertaining troupes, including a troupe of pony dancers. Both the Dowager Rose Queen, Irene England, and the Rose Queen, Elsie Coops, stopped at the War Memorial to lay a wreath to honour those who had died in the First World War. Coincidentally, when I arrived at the Town Hall to do my talk, a similar tribute was being paid by servicemen and women and air cadets at the same War Memorial as thanksgiving to those who fought in the Battle of Britain eighty-four years ago.
Picture courtesy of Trafford Local Studies
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