Each year Saddleworth Morris men organise the Saddleworth Rushcart Festival. Morris sides from around the country, and often overseas, gather and help celebrate the tradition of rushbearing in Saddleworth over one weekend in August. On the Saturday the Rushcart is pulled through the villages of Saddleworth where a variety of different morris sides dance at selected venues. The festivities continue the following day in Uppermill where sides continue to dance and perform to accompanying folk music. The whole event marks a tradition which was revived in 1974 and continues to be a popular and important event in the Saddleworth calendar.

The whole event is self funded through public support and donations. The pandemic forced Rushcart to be cancelled for two years. During that time there was little oppportunity to fundraise. The event desperately needs help funding for this years event and also to help in preparing for a long term strategy to ensure Rushcart continues. The side must pay for the services of a Traffic Management Company to assist with road closures as well as providing an appropriate level of medical cover throughout the event which meets with authoritative guidelines. Saddleworth Morris men are committed to raising funds themselves and have organised a Beer festival to be held in August. We need the public‘s help to secure the funding for this years event. The total cost to put the event on is £3,000