Saddleworth and Whit Friday will always be special to me. I first moved to Saddleworth when Sarah my daughter was two, and whilst walking today we collectively worked out we have walked on Whit Friday every year since.
We have lived in saddleworth now for thirty one years. We didn’t walk the first year because I didn’t know what it was. But I learned the hard way. Ann woke me up and said she had heard a shuffling sound in our front garden.
Now being a virile twenty odd year old (wishful thinking) I sprung out of bed naked and I can assure you it was not a pretty sight. I threw the curtains back just in time for the conductor who was stood on my garden wall to strike up the band and the rest of the village in a hymn to welcome us to the village.
Now there is not many people who can say they have flashed the entire village were they live, but unfortunately I can. I still go red when certain women in the village give you a certain look that makes you feel very inadequate.
Now this year I must confess Whit Friday was a bit of an emotional roller coaster, It was not the fact that the brood assemble at Eccles towers and hoover up most of the natural resources that our planet has to offer, Its not the fact that the weather was dreadful, (I experienced four seasons in one hour on the march down to Uppermill). Its the fact that I have got to an age were I remember what I have lost.
I don’t mean my mobile phone or my car keys, which I do on a regular basis, I mean all the people who I have known throughout my years here. The place were I call home. people who I have laughed and cried with, people who I would love to be here.
Many of these people from my past have gone but I can assure you that they are not forgotten. I always get a lump in my throat on the way into Uppermill, I find myself looking for them in the crowd. I remember where I saw them in years gone by and that hurts a little.
I don’t care that it may be raining, I don’t care that my shoes may give me sore feet on the way back from our communal service in Uppermill. I am here and I celebrate that fact. Life is short and it is what you make it and I love the fact that I am still here.
So with another whit Friday under my belt I think I am very lucky. So with that thought in mind I wish everyone who took part in “the greatest free show on earth” a healthy, safe and prosperous year and hopefully we can do it all again next year.
John D Eccles 