Introduction
What is it?
Participation
Useful links
2005's festivities
2006's festivities
2007's festivities
What is Double Gloucester?
So Britain's a country obsessed with Health & Safety, right?
The tiny hamlet of Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, is home to one of the world's most spectacular and daft sporting events. A favourite of Australian backpackers and recently voted "ten things you must see before you die" (or was it "do"?), Cheese Rolling is dangerous and ridiculous in equal measure.
The tiny hamlet of Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, is also just up the road from where Dave lives.
What is Cheese Rolling?
Cheese Rolling is an annual local tradition in Gloucester. An 8lb Double Gloucester cheese is propelled off a hillside and local idiots chase it, with a view to catching it. Actually catching it is impossible, because by the time it reaches the bottom of the hill it's moving at some 70mph. What tends to happen is that the chasers stay upright for the first ten metres or so, then trip on a hummock of grass and end up cartwheeling to the finish line. Anybody who is, by some miracle, still upright at the bottom gets tackled by local rugby players to prevent them from slamming bodily into the cottage at the finish line. It's spectacular to watch, not only because of the injuries suffered (a mountain search-and-rescue team is on standby to lower casualties off the hillside to the waiting ambulances) but also because of the tremendous crowd atmosphere.
Participation
First things first: I've never tried it myself. But the author of TrueBrits (see links below) has, and gives a good summary of what it's like.
To participate in a race, you do not need to register in advance, merely turn up and hope that there aren't too many others wanting to do it. The best race to take part in is probably the second one for men and, obviously, the one-and-only women's race for women. This gives you the chance to study the course and watch the first race for tactics. It also allows you time for some Dutch Courage first. Last year, the third and final men's race was over-subscribed, leading to a bit of a scuffle at the start line. So the second race is definitely the one to go for.
Body armour is discouraged. You should, therefore, be aware that there is a strong possibility of injury. This isn't some theme park ride where the sense of danger is entirely artificial: get this wrong and you could well end up in casualty. In which case, we'll save you a burger on the barbie.
Useful links
- Official Cheese Rolling website
- TrueBrits first-hand Cheese Rolling experience plus fun facts, injury statistics and, rather delightfully, a video clip of the event, in which two participants collide and then literally bounce head-over-heels to the finish line
- BBC Gloucestershire's Cheese Rolling site with news, photos, videos and casualty statistics for the last few years
2005's festivities
The First Annual Cheese Rolling Party was held in 2005.
- Cheese Rolling 2005 photos
- Cheese Rolling Party photos
- Phil also took some Cheese Rolling photos - being about three times David's height, he had a much better vantage point from which to take photos of proceedings on Cooper's Hill. However, it's up to him to publish them somewhere ;-)
2006's festivities
The Second Annual Cheese Rolling Party was held in 2006. Special thanks for all their hard work to... Heather for breakfast preparation... Jo and Ruth for the marinade and kebabs... Andy for his table construction skills... and especially Caroline and Jane for their enthusiastic barbecue cooking in appalling weather conditions. Truly couldn't have done it without you!
If anyone else took any great photos at the 2006 event, I'd love to see them and, with your permission, publish them on this site. Please get in touch.
- Second Annual Cheese Rolling Party photos
- Original 2006 invitation with late annotations on the weather etc.
- Film Fanatic's Fiendish Fun Quite Queerly Quirky Quotation Quiz
- Quotation Quiz - the answers
2007's festivities
The Third Annual Cheese Rolling Party was held in 2007 and was blessed with only marginally less appalling Bank Holiday weather than in 2006. Special thanks for all their hard work to... Giles for barbecuing in the rain... Paul and Scoot for Wii loan and Tim for organising the poker challenge... and Ranja for shopping, washing up, driving everywhere and general support.
- Cheese Rolling 2007 - as viewed on a long lens from the field beneath Cooper's Hill
- Third Annual Cheese Rolling Party
- Keri's Cheese Rolling photos - and she also had a handful published on the BBC!
- Original 2007 invitation with planned (but mainly aborted) programme of events.
What is Double Gloucester?
A semi-hard, non-pasteurised cheese with a similar colour to Red Leicester, made using whole milk collected both morning and night (hence Double). It has a savoury, buttery taste and was traditionally made from the milk of Gloucester cows, an ancient and docile breed which is now nearly extinct.