September in Particular

This is the start of the illuminated Carnival season in the West Country - extraordinary floats made by carnival clubs gather to parade. Look at the Carnival Chronicle web-site for dates and details.

Early September

Great Dorset Steam Fair, Tarrant Hinton, Dorset. See the fair's web-site for latest information.

St Giles Fair, Oxford, on the Monday and Tuesday following the Sunday following St Giles Day (1st September) - This started as the Feast Day for St Giles in the seventeenth century. Became a toy fair in the late eighteenth century and a general fair for children by the beginning of the nineteenth. By the 1930s it catered for adults as well with stalls selling clothes, baskets, tools etc. It is now a fun fair. There is also a flower festival in St Giles Church. Contact Oxford TIC +44(0)186 726871.

Barnet Horse Fair, London. Nearly 800 years old, originally London cabbies bought their horses here, now they seek ponies for their children. Near Barnet station and the Great North Road between 4 & 6 September unless one of the days is a Sunday.

Harvest Festivals

Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing, Sowerby Bridge, W.Yorks. On the first weekend in September, a sixteen feet high rushcart is pulled by 60 local men in panama hats, white shirts, black trousers and clogs. A team of women take turns in sitting on top of the cart. The procession is accompanied by five or six team of morris dancers. The procession stops on route to present token rushes to churches, to perform a mumming play and to dance outside pubs. On Sunday the procession goes to Ripponden to present rushes and join the village fete.This celebration was revived for the Silver Jubilee in 1977 as a one-off but was so popular it has persisted. Contact +44(0)1422 833862

Wem carnival, Wem, Shropshire now has a web-site.

Rosh Hashannah, Jewish New Year.

Celebration of the anniversary of the world's creation and of the day of Judgement. Special foods are eaten and services attended. Often people gather at the source of running water such as a stream and cast their sins in the form of 'bits' from their pockets into the water representing the lifting of the burden of guilt. The Shofar horn is blown for many reasons including the gathering in of Jewish people across the world and the ushering in of an era of peace. This day is also the first of ten days of self-examination and religous awareness leading up to atonement on Yom Kippur. 2003 is 5764 in the Jewish calendar, the beginning of which is marked by 'the creation of the world', equivalent to the 7th October 3761 BC. The new year is based on lunar and solar cycles and may have 12 or 13 months. It can fall on any day between 5th September and 5th October.

Wakes Monday, the first Monday after the first Sunday after 4th September

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire. This custom has evolved over 1000 years. Now on Wakes Monday, two sets of three dancers wearing reindeer horns painted in different colours enact a mock stag fight. This is repeated in a 20 mile tour of the parish with a hobby horse, Maid Marion, musicians and others. Contact +44(0)1283 840224 or look at this web-site.

Mid-September

Widecombe Horse Fair, Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon - The famous Widecombe Fair immortalised in folk song still continues, including horse trading; produce and livestock shows and competitions including Dartmoor Ponies, and Whitefaced and Greyfaced Dartmoor Sheep; drystone walling, sheep shearing and thatching demonstrations; dog races and shows; cross country race over open moorland from the top of Widecombe hill to the Fair below; tug o' war; street entertainment in the village; evening bar. Contact Newton Abbott TIC +44(0)1626 215667 for dates or look at this web-site.

Heritage Open Days - These take place annually across the country, usually around the second weekend in September (12th - 15th in 2003). They provide activities, and an opportunity to visit sometimes hidden, often curious and always interesting properties (many of which are not normally open to the public) in numerous cities, towns and villages free of charge. For details of events and openings near you, look at the Civic Trust web-site.

Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival has taken place annually since 1999, around the second weekend in September, with events, performances, and an opportunity to sample cheeses from across the region. See more events in Sturminster Newton during December.

Latter Lee in a field at West Ardsley (between Wakefield & Dewsbury), Yorkshire on 17th September - the second of two horse fairs, first is Lee Gap Fair, 24 August. Contact Mr Leadley +44(0)113 2535677 or look at this web-site.

Wood Fair and Wood season at Bentley (near Lewes), Sussex, in mid-September. Free bus service on the hour from Lewes railway station). The season features 100 woody events.

Late September

Richmond First Fruits, Yorkshire - the mayor hands a sample of corn to a miller and the farmer receives a bottle of wine. Wine is then passed around to all present to toast a successful harvest. Contact the Town Clerk +44(0)1748 850808 or look at the Richmond town web-site. See other events in Richmond during February and December.

Crabapple Fair, Baybarrow Sports Field, Egremont, Cumbria. Usually on the third Saturday in September - a fair which dates from 1267, with games, apples and THE gurning championship... Contact +44(0)1946 821554.

Clypping Ceremony, St Mary's church, Painswick, Glos - This is held on Feast Sunday, the Sunday after Feast of Nativity of St Mary (19 September). The church is 'clypped' or embraced by parishioners while the 'Clypping Hymn' is sung. This ceremony is said to symbolise the parishioners' love of their church. This Feast Day was once notorious in Painswick for riotous behaviour and for 'Puppy-dog pies' said to have been baked by a publican desperate for meat to feed the visiting crowds. This is still celebrated by baking china dogs into pies and cakes sold on the day.

Pear Day, Canon Hall Museum Park & Gardens, Cawthorne, nr Barnsley, S.Yorks - This started in 1996 and features music, activities, tastings and sales in the 1.5 acre kitchen garden, on the walls of which 35 varieties of pear are trained. 13 New varieties were planted in 2001. Contact +44(0)1226 790270.

Northern Lights

Michaelmas Rushbearing, St Mary & St Michael's Church, Urswick, Cumbria, usually held on the Sunday nearest to St Michael's Day (29th September). This begins with a procession from the day school to the church which was revived in 1905. It commemorates a time when the church had mud floors and rushes were cut from the tarn, or pond, in the town (they are at their fluffiest at this time of year)and taken to the church by horse and cart to replace the old rushes and keep the church warm and dry. Contact Joan Wood on +44(0)1229 587913.

Trent Aegir - River Trent, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire - this tidal bore occurs throughout the year with some strong bores around September. Look at the Environment Agency web-site for annual predictions.

Autumn Equinox

Dartmoor Hill Pony Drift - from late September to early October, ponies are gathered in, catalogued and foals taken for sale. Contact the Dartmoor National Park Authority +44(0)1822 890565 or look at their web-site.

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