Cheese rolling

The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England. Participants race down the long hill after a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down it. The event was traditionally held by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth, but now people from all over the world take part. ''The Guardian'' called it a "world-famous event", with winners coming from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Nepal.

The cheese-rolling event returned on Sunday 5 June 2022 after a two-year absence: it had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 spring bank holiday was moved to June 2 and was followed by an additional bank holiday, to create a four-day jubilee weekend in celebration of Elizabeth II's 70 years of reign.

Format

From the top of the hill, a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down the hill, which is 200 yards long. Competitors then start racing down the hill after the cheese. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. The competitors aim to catch the cheese; however, it has around a one-second head start and can reach speeds up to , enough to knock over and injure a spectator. Multiple races are held during the day, with separate events for men and women.

In the 2013 competition, a foam replica replaced the cheese for reasons of safety. The winners were given prizes of actual cheese.

History

This ceremony originally took place each Whit Monday, but was later moved to the Spring Bank Holiday. The first written evidence of cheese rolling is found in a message written to the Gloucester town crier in 1826; even then it was apparent that the event was an old tradition, and it is believed to be at least six hundred years old.

Two possible origins have been proposed for the ceremony. First, it may have evolved from a requirement for maintaining grazing rights on the common.Anon. "Cheese Rolling on Coopers Hill, Exhibition", Gloucester City and Folk Museums, Gloucester, 14 July 2012. Second, there may be pagan origins for the custom of rolling objects down the hill. It is thought that bundles of burning brushwood were rolled down the hill to represent the birth of the New Year after winter. Connected with this belief is the traditional scattering of buns, biscuits and sweets at the top of the hill by the Master of Ceremonies. This is said to be a fertility rite to encourage the fruits of harvest.

In 1982, a team of students from the University of Bristo
filmed the 31 May event
using film cameras, with one camera was set on slow motion.

In 1993, fifteen people were injured, four seriously, chasing cheeses down the hill with its one-in-three gradient.

In 2009, it was cancelled due to concerns over health and safety. In 2010, a group of journalists and local residents threw a smaller version, in keeping with tradition, to keep grazing rights. In 2011, Candis Phillips and Sara Stevens bought and dressed four cheeses, and so the revival of this famous old tradition continued.

The 2011 event took place without management, due to safety concerns over the number of people visiting the event, resulting in the 'Save the Cheese Roll' campaign. Despite the cancellation and lack of paramedics, around 500 people showed up in 2011 to hold some spontaneous races; no major injuries were reported.

The event is traditional and takes its name from the steep hill on which it occurs. Until recent years, it was managed in a quasi-official manner by nominated locals, but since 2010 the event has taken place spontaneously without any management.

The cheese-rolling event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, returning in June 2022.

Cheese

The cheese currently used in the event is Double Gloucester, a hard cheese traditionally made in a circular shape. Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round the side, and is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race. Formerly, three cheeses were presented by parishioners, and the cheeses were usually rolled by them. A collection is usually made now to purchase them, as well as sweets, and also to provide prize money.

Since 1988, the cheese has been supplied by local cheesemaker Diana Smart and her son Rod, from their Churcham

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