Last Friday was Warrington Walking Day and since I'd never actually watched the procession before I decided to go up to the town hall to see the start of the parade.
Most of the week had been hot and humid, but on the day the weather was wet (and somehow strangely still a little sticky too) so the people assembled on the lawn had to march out through Warrington's Golden Gates in the rain. I imagine that the crowd was smaller than in years with better weather but the turnout was still good - a small forest of umbrellas - and the walkers themselves put on a brave face as they passed the mayoral party, waving back from their little shelter.
I wasn't sure ahead of time what the Walking Day procession would actually consist of, but essentially it's a parade made up of the local churches and community groups. Most of them carry banners or flags (often quite colourful) and there were also a few marching bands, including pipe and drum, bagpipes, and full brass. I'm sure that on a sunny day the whole thing has quite a bit of a carnival atmosphere.
It took around 30 minutes for all the walkers to clear the gates and set off on their route around the town centre. For a while the rain eased but then came back with a vengence, so after watching the parade for a bit longer in Bridge Street I decided that the best thing to do would be to head home for some tea and dryness. I hope that the people marching didn't suffer too much in the downpour - I was certainly glad to have finally seen something of this grand Warrington tradition.
My fairly ordinary pictures from the event are now on Flickr if you're interested in seeing what it looked like (I've realised how difficult it can be to get interesting photos from a distance with my rather basic camera, although I think I managed a few good ones). There is also information about Walking Day on the Warrington local government website.
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