With their blackened faces and garish costumes, there’s nothing quite like the dancing ‘nutters’ of Bacup.

These traditional folk dancers perform on Easter Saturday every year,
dancing from boundary to boundary of the town, starting at 9am at the Travellers Rest Public House on the A671 Rochdale to Bacup road.

Thought to possibly have originated from Moorish Pirates who settled in this country and worked as miners, firstly in Cornwall and later moving North to Lancashire, they’re certainly unique.

You can read more about the fascinating history of this very British celebration on the official Nutters website.

This is an annual event which has been played in its present form since 1932.

Marbles is a game which was popular in Roman times so it’s been around for a long time. It’s particularly popular in Sussex and Surrey and it is commonly supposed that the championship is a legacy from one played between two rivals for the hand of a beautiful maiden in the 1600’s.

The current winners receive a silver cup and play under the rules of the British Marbles Control Board.

How to play
The playing ‘field’ is a 6 foot diameter concrete ring covered with sand.

There are 49 marbles and a team of six players. Each player grips a glass ‘tolley’ and uses it to try and knock as many of the 49 marbles out of the ring as possible. The player grips the tolley between the forefinger and thumb and ’shoots’ at the other marbles without using their whole hand.

Watch the video clip above of the 2008 World Championship to see the technique in action.

Rules of marbles (pdf)