First posted at Waterton’s Walton.
The following is a film providing coverage of the various events that took place in Waterton’s Walton during the year 2019:
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Film Transcript:
Since I’ve been doing various films in and around Walton this year, I thought I’d use some of the footage to create ‘Year in Review’.
I’ve referred to the village as ‘Waterton’s Walton’ to distinguish it from the many other places with the same name in various parts of the country. This of course is a reference to a person who is probably Walton’s most famous past inhabitant, the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton. It was here in Walton where he created the world’s first nature reserve.
NATIONAL VINTAGE TRACTOR ROAD RUN
The first event was the National Vintage Tractor Road Run that passed through Walton on Easter Sunday which, this year, fell on 21st April. About 500 tractors from around the country took part. They started their journey near the water tower in Ackworth. The proceeds raised by the event went to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Here’s the footage of some of the tractors as they passed by Priory Square and Walton House.
WALTON COLLIERY DISASTER MEMORIAL EVENT
On Friday 26th April the Walton Colliery Disaster Memorial Event took place in Walton Club.
It was organised by Norman Parkinson of the HOW Project to commemorate 60th anniversary of the mining disaster that occurred on 22nd April 1959. At the event a short film about the pit was shown. There were also poetry readings, and an address by the Mayor of Wakefield. Also, singer-songwriter Ali Bullivent sang her song about the pit that was called ‘Butterflies’. The next clip shows her singing this song at the event.
MORRIS DANCING – PERFORMANCE BY THE GREEN OAK MORRIS MEN
On Wednesday 5th June a quintessentially English event took place outside the New Inn – Morris Dancing. This was a performance by the Green Oak Morris men.
WALTON HALL
On Saturday 29 June I was present at Walton Hall for a family rather than a village event. Because of the importance of Walton Hall to the history of Walton, I wanted to include some footage of the hall and its grounds in this film. Walton Hall of course, was the home of Charles Waterton who I mentioned at the very beginning of this film. The hall is built on its own island and here is its front entrance. Above the door you can see a carving of the Waterton family crest.
WALTON CLASSIC CAR SHOW
The Walton Classic Car Show was the next event, and this took place on the field at Walton Club on Sunday 21 July. There was a wide variety of classic cars on display. The following footage gives a reasonable overview.
SCARECROW FESTIVAL
On the weekend of Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September the village had its annual scarecrow festival. I guess this could be described as a modern take on the traditional harvest festival. There were a wide range of scarecrows scattered across the length and breadth of the village. The occasion was a good excuse to walk around the village in its entirety and to see parts that you don’t see very often.
The intention of the footage was to show the village itself, as much as the scarecrows, to show what it was like in the early 21st century.
Hopefully a reasonable selection of the scarecrows are included in the following footage, but a large number of very good ones have been missed. Some of the scarecrow names I made up myself.
WALTON COLLIERY MEMORIAL WHEEL
An important event for the history of Walton took place at the Walton Colliery Nature Reserve on Saturday 19th October. This was the unveiling and dedication of the Walton Colliery Memorial Wheel. The wheel was donated by Norman Parkinson and filled what many ex miners in the village regarded as a historical omission on the site. The event was attended by the Mayor of Wakefield and some excellent brass band music was performed by the Crofton Silver Band.
WALTON CLUB BONFIRE AND FIREWORKS
Friday 1st November saw the Walton Club Bonfire and Fireworks. This was brought forward event for the traditional Guy Fawkes Night festivities that go back to the Gunpowder Plot incident of the early 17th century. The fire took a bit of getting going because of the recent heavy rain, but it did get going and was accompanied by an excellent fireworks display.
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
On 10th November the people of Walton remembered those who died for the country’s freedom in the two world wars of the 20th century. This year, the event was very well attended, and numbers present equalled the numbers who used to attend when the old veterans used to parade through the village to the memorial with a brass band.
SWITCHING ON OF WALTON CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
The final event of 2019 was the switching on of Walton’s Christmas lights. The Crofton Silver Band were present to provide an excellent backdrop of brass band Christmas music.
***UPDATE/CORRECTION: The switching on of the Christmas lights took place on Sunday 1 December rather than the November date erroneously added to the introductory screen to that section of the film.***
cjknowles1972 