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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Only two weeks to go until the Grasmere Dialect Plays come home to Grasmere. Don't miss it! 7 pm, Sat 10 Oct, in the Grasmere Village Hall. Tickets from: ticketsource.com/grasmere-vil...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Tickets now on sale for the return of the Grasmere Dialect Plays to Grasmere, after nearly 100 years. Come & see for yourself how the plays are just as fresh and entertaining now as when first performed! Tickets from >Ticketsource.com/Grasmere-village-hall-co-ltd< or Barney's Newsbox, Grasmere

Poster fror Grasmere Dialect Plays at Grasmere Village Hall, 7 pm, Sat 10th October 2026

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

SAVE THE DATE! On 10 October 2026, the Grasmere Dialect Plays will come 'home' to Grasmere Village Hall - for the first time since 1937. Re-created for C21st by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society & accompanied by fiddler Carolyn Francis & folklorist Sue Allan - it'll be a night to remember!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

YES - IT'S TONIGHT! Your rare opportunity to see & hear the Grasmere Dialect Plays brought to life! Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social Keswick. A few tickets left: phone the theatre box office on 017687 74411 (or visit the Words By the Water website).

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

It's tomorrow night! Still (just) time to get your tickets for our readings from the fabulous Grasmere Dialect Plays. theatrebythelake.com/event/the-la... 6.15, The Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick. See you there!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Curious about the origins of traditional Cumbrian customs like rushbearing and pace-egging? Want to know why proposing to a sweetheart was such a "teptious" matter? Come along to our Grasmere Dialect Plays event next week & find out! Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Just a week to go now until the Grasmere Dialect Plays hit the stage @tbtlake.bsky.social on the first night of the fab 'Words by the Water Keswick' Festival. Come join us for some fun (Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio)!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Just 2 weeks to go until our Grasmere Dialect Plays event at 'Words by the Water', Keswick: 6.15, 11th March, in the Studio @tbtlake.bsky.social. Come and find out why the Plays were a sensation in the 1920s and 30s - & experience our recreation for a 21st Century audience. Good time guaranteed!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Why did tourists flock to Grasmere every January in the 1920s and '30s? (Clearly it wasn't for the weather ...) Come and find out @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick on 11th March at 6.15, in the Studio. Big clues in the photos below - and/or check out www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Next outing for the Grasmere Dialect Plays: the opening eve of the fabulous 'Words by the Water' Festival @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick. Come & join us at 6.15, 11th March in the Studio. Guaranteed to be informative - and fun! Tickets/full programme: www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com/events/

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Remember my post about pace-egging in the #GrasmereDialectPlays? Over on X, (don't think she's on here) @sciencegirl posted a vid of Pysanka, the Ukrainian art of decorating eggs. Led to a wonderful thread on Eastern European egg decorating. Really worth checking out! Pic below from @queensowandsow

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Given current watery conditions here in Cumbria, I'm enjoying Hardwicke Rawnsley's account of the Keswick floods of 25 Oct 1888: '...when it siles down reet gaily, every road becomes a sike, and every sike a beck, and every beck a river'. Apparently the sexton of Crosthwaite church was undeterred:

Extract from 'A North-Country Flood', in H.D. Rawnsley's 1902 book, 'A Rambler's Notebook at the English Lakes', page 115. The sexton of Crosthwaite Church tells how he got to the church, despite the floods, by walking along the railway embankment. (He speaks in Cumbrian dialect.)

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

I love maps so I'm giving away TWO signed paperbacks of my psychedelic/folkloric novel Villager each with these fantastic maps my dad illustrated of the fictional village in the book.Just repost this/reply below for a chance to win. Here's an extract from the book: www.tom-cox.com/the-village-...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Cumbria Life has published an expanded online version of my piece on the fabulous Grasmere Dialect Plays - including lots more images. Find it here: www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/cu...

greatbritishlife.co.uk

The play that is helping to preserve Westmorland dialect and customs

The Grasmere Dialect Plays enact scenes from everyday life, entirely in Westmorland dialect

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Exciting news: I've got a 3-page article on the Grasmere Dialect Plays in the October 2025 issue of 'Cumbria Life' magazine! Really hoping this will bring them to a wider audience ... @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social @countrystride.bsky.social

Photo of first page of Cumbria Life article on the Grasmere Dialect Plays. 3 black-and-white images: a large one of pace-egging on stage, and two smaller ones: rushbearing on stage and a publicity postcard of two young lovers in a hayfield

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

NEW PODCAST - JUST POSTED: Two extracts from the fabulous 1924 Grasmere Dialect Play "On Second Thoughts", read by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society. Lead roles played by Jean Scott-Smith & John Campbell. They're brilliant! Listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP7t...

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On Second Thoughts

YouTube video by Sue Wilkinson

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Will Dinah marry Gawin, or his nephew, Kit? (Act IV, "On Second Thoughts") Another picture from yesterday's readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside. L to R: John Campbell (Gawin), Phillip Gate (Kit), & Jean Scott-Smith (Dinah). Watch out for the podcast!

Three costumed actors, reading from scripts, in front of bookcases. Older man on left, younger man in centre, older woman on right.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

It's not every day you're given decorated bearings, hand-made with rushes from Wet Sleddale. Thank you so much, Jean Scott-Smith, President of the Lakeland Dialect Society The flower-decked sheafs are traditional in the Grasmere rushbearing, which features in the Grasmere Dialect Plays #LakeDistrict

Two traditional bearings - as used in the annual Grasmere rushbearing procession, which features in the Grasmere Dialect Plays. They're made of sheafs of rushes, bound with twine, and decorated with pink-and-white flowers and sprigs of bracken

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

I met Richard Hardisty, whose great-uncle, Johnnie Hodgson, played the fiddle in several of the Grasmere Dialect Plays. Here's Richard holding a photo (which he hadn't seen before) of his great-uncle (far left) - in the rushbearing scene from "On Second Thoughts" (1924)

Grasmere resident, Richard Hardisty, wearing a blue check shirt, holds up a photograph of the 1924 Grasmere Dialect Play, "On Second Thoughts". The photo shows his great-uncle, Johnnie Hodgson, playing the fiddle in a rushbearing scene, with children

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Very many thanks to Jean Scott-Smith, John Campbell, Phillip Gate and Louise Green from the Lakeland Dialect Society for their superb readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays. Thanks, too, to the Armitt Museum for hosting our event - & to the appreciative audience!

Members of the Lakeland Dialect Society, in costume, reading from the Grasmere Dialect Plays. They are in the library of the Armitt Museum, with bookcases and a projector screen behind them. Two men and one woman are standing, with scripts, and another woman is seated.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

A fabulous afternoon at the Armitt Museum, introducing readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society. A great time was had by players and audience alike! And wonderful to meet Grasmere residents with relatives in the original plays.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Don't miss it! Tomorrow 2 pm at the Armitt, Ambleside Tickets: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Just 4 days to go ... The fabulous Jean Scott-Smith and John Campbell star in Readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside at 2 pm on Wed 13 August. Don't miss it! Tickets here: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Coming soon (13 August) at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside ...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Less than two weeks to go until THE event of the summer: the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt, starring Jean Scott-Smith & John Campbell Tickets from: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra... We were rehearsing today In Kendal:

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Tickets now available for readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays on 13 August, 2.00-3.30 at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside. I guarantee it will be an entertaining (as well as informative) event! www.armitt.com/event-direct... (scroll down to evvent)

Announcement of an event - readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays - at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside, in 13 August, 2.00-3.30 pm. Illustrated with a photograph of a young man and woman in a hayfield, taken from one of the original productions of the plays

Details about the Grasmere Dialect Plays - which feature in an event to be held at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside, in 13 August, 2.00-3.30 pm. Illustrated with a photograph of a young man and woman in a hayfield, taken from one of the original productions of the plays

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Come along to the Armitt Museum, Ambleside at 2 pm on 13 August! I'll be introducing readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society. Tickets: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

I 'discovered' the #GrasmereDialectPlays as a part-time student on this fabulous MA course (& wrote my final dissertation on them). Certain that more discoveries await future students - why not find out more ...?!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

UPDATE: You can now access Jean Scott-Smith and Donald Campbell's brilliant readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays directly from the Lakeland Dialect Society's website. Link here: lakelanddialectsociety.co.uk/recordings

lakelanddialectsociety.co.uk

Recordings | Lakeland Dialect Society

How to the voices of many characters speaking dialect

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The Society of Authors @societyofauthors.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

We are disappointed but not surprised that Meta has used millions of pirated books to develop its AI systems. As a matter of urgency, Meta needs to compensate the rightsholders of all the works it has been exploiting. But what can authors do? Read here: societyofauthors.org/2025/03/21/t...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Eleanor Rawnsley (nee Simpson), who wrote/staged the Grasmere Dialect Plays, lived for most of her life at Allan Bank, Grasmere. William Wordsworth - who lived at Allan Bank from 1808-1811 - wrote his 'Guide to the Lakes' there. New exhibition: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Poet Wordsworth's role as first Lake District 'influencer'

An exhibition at Allan Bank in Grasmere looks at how Wordsworth helped conservation in the Lakes.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

All 3 of my short podcasts featuring readings form the #GrasmereDialectPlays now available here: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6w...

List of 9 plays by Eleanor Rawnsley (nee Simpson), with an image of her + an image of the covers of 6 playtexts

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

If you enjoyed hearing Jean Scott-Smith (President of the Lakeland Dialect Society) playing the female leads in my "Three Proposals ..." podcast last week, here she is again as Matilda Knott, in a longer reading from Eleanor Rawnsley's play, "The Mistress of Mosshead". Happy Christmas!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

The perfect distraction from Christmas?! Third (and for now, final) short podcast of readings from the fantastic #GrasmereDialectPlays. What happens when Joseph Mumberson pays a surprise call on Matilda Knott, the eponymous "Mistress of Mosshead"? Find out here! www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJ-...

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'The Mistress of Mosshead': An extract from one of the Grasmere Dialect Plays

YouTube video by Sue Wilkinson

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Have yourself 13 mins of pre-Christmas entertainment by listening to Kitty, Rachel and Matilda's responses to a proposal of marriage. (And enjoy a taster of Westmorland dialect as spoken by native Westmerians) #GrasmereDialectPlays

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Have been talking to @drfrond.bsky.social - expert on all things ferns & bracken Bracken-harvesting crops up in one of the #GrasmereDialectPlays, 'A Woman of Property', performed in 1914, 1922 & 1931. (Extract below from 1922, Act I, p.11) Was it still a widespread farming practice in the 1930s?

Extract of text from Eleanor Rawnsley's Grasmere Dialect Play, 'A Woman of Property' (1922), referring to the practice of bracken-harvesting. There are 3 speakers: Miss Postlethwaite and rival suitors William (a farmer) and Isaac (a joiner). Miss Postlethwaite asks William how things have gone on the farm that week, and he says the last load of bracken wasn't brought in before the storm (although a neighbouring farmer's was). Isaac retorts that it's a poor farmer who can't predict the weather - and William retorts that Isaac should stick to his joinery work and not meddle in farming business. Miss Postlethwaite sends them both packing!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Want to know the outcome of three - possibly surprising - marriage proposals? Of course you do! Here's my second podcast on the #GrasmereDialectPlays, featuring readers from the Lakeland Dialect Society: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQAx...

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Three Proposals in the Grasmere Dialect Plays

YouTube video by Sue Wilkinson

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

The 9 #GrasmereDialectPlays written by Eleanor Rawnsley (nee Simpson) include *37* marriage proposals! They're a central plot device: despite clumsy suitors, meddling relatives, romantic triangles, & disparities of status, romance triumphs in the end. New podcast - 3 proposals - coming soon!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Wonderful to see this! Any other countries where this traditional art is still followed? (I spotted some decorated eggs in the Castle Museum in Bled, Slovenia this summer)

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

First #GrasmereDialectPlays podcast now live! YouTube link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmp... Intro to the traditional custom of pace-egging, followed by a reading - by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society - from Eleanor Rawnsley's play 'Pace-eggin Time' Enjoy!

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'Pace-egging' in the Grasmere Dialect Plays

YouTube video by Sue Wilkinson

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Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Do you know any life writers? If so, please let them know about the #lifewriting starter pack and feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Another treat! 2nd short clip from reading of 'Pace-eggin' Time' by members of the Lakeland Dialect Soc. Here, the Doctor (Jean Scott-Smith) boasts about what he can cure. St George (John Campbell), slayer of the Turk, then adjures him to 'bring that man to life again'. Full podcast in the works!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Here's what Grasmere rush-bearing looked like in the early 20th Century (when Eleanor Rawnsley, nee Simpson, was writing her #GrasmereDialectPlays): it's Frank Bramley's painting in Grasmere Village Hall. Eleanor & her mother both feature in it. (Ask for its cupboard to be unlocked if you visit!)

Painting of Grasmere villagers in the annual rush-bearing procession outside St Oswald's church. Green-pinafored girls carry rushes and a sheet laden with flowers, and they are surrounded by women wearing straw hats. The painting, by Frank Bramley, is owned by the National Trust, and is dispalyed (inside a cupboard) in Grasmere Village Hall.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Here's how the Grasmere rush-bearing was represented on stage in Eleanor Rawnsley's play, 'On Second Thoughts'. The children practise marching with their 'bearings' to the tune of Jimmy Dawson's March. The Simpson & Rawnsley families participated in rush-bearing, & bearings were made at their homes

Stage scene in which five children practise marching while holding 'bearings' made of rushes and decorated with flowers. A fiddler plays and an adult woman looks on. [Image with kind permission of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere]

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Eleanor Rawnsley's #GrasmereDialectPlays showcased local customs as well as dialect. One of these was rush-bearing (still celebrated today in Grasmere & Ambleside). Here are some images from Grasmere 2023: of the 'rushmaidens' and the rush-covered floor of St Oswald's church

6 girls in green pinafores and straw hats, carrying rushes and holding an embroidered cloth; church interior with floor covered in rushes

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Here's a real treat! Members of the Lakeland Dialect Society - Jean Scott-Smith & John Campbell - read an extract from "Pace-eggin' Time" (St George has just killed the Turk). This reading accompanied my talk on the #GrasmereDialectPlays at the Uni of Cumbria on 5 Nov. Podcasts coming soon ...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

As depicted in Rawnsley's 1906 play "Pace-Eggin' Time", actors were rewarded with decorated eggs, to be used in an egg-rolling contest. Wordsworth Grasmere has an egg collection - far too lovely to roll! [Pic by kind permission of the Wordsworth Trust] Norman Nicholson also describes the practice

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