The Harting Old Club is a British

friendly society A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal organization or ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual org ...

, originating in the village of South Harting,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, and dating back to at least 1800, but in probability at least another 75 years before that. Every

Whit Monday Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter. I ...

the members parade outside St Gabriel's church at 11 o'clock where the secretary calls the roll. The club members then march up and down the high street to the accompaniment of a brass band. In their hand they carry a

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

wand, and on their lapel they wear a red, blue and white rosette. Following a short service the (all male) members retire to enjoy a feast.

References

Footnotes Notes Bibliography * * * * *

External links

{{Commons category, Harting Old Club annual parade
Festivities Web-Site
Clubs and societies in West Sussex Friendly societies of the United Kingdom