FOLLOWING years of tradition, a small South Lakes village joined together to parade through their streets, to celebrate an ancient tradition which plays a large role in the history of their community.

Scores of people paraded through Urswick as part of the rushbearing festival, which has taken place every year on the closest Sunday to Michaelmas since 1905.

This year saw the 113th installment get off to a fine start, with revellers commenting on the size of the crowd who gathered.

The historic celebration commemorates the changing of the rushes on the floor of St Mary and St Michael's Church which saw villagers replace worn out rushes with fresh ones.

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Nicola Troughton, who teaches at Low Furness Primary School organised this year's festivities and was pleased with the large turnout.

The Urswick resident became organiser last year and has been a part of the festival since she was 10 years old.

She said: "I've grown up in the village and I'm always a part of it.

"There are lots of schoolchildren here which is great and we did a workshop in school about it on Friday too.

"It's important to keep original traditions. I like seeing everyone come together as a community.

"Today is really special thing for the children to be a part of."

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">And they're off! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Urswick?src=hash">#Urswick</a> rushbearing <a href="https://t.co/XiOMkIxPlj">pic.twitter.com/XiOMkIxPlj</a></p>— Beth Baldwin (@bethbaldwinNWEM) <a href="https://twitter.com/bethbaldwinNWEM/status/911947785959862272">September 24, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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Another Urswick villager, Sarah Whittaker, whose daughter was involved in the ceremony, helped Mrs Troughton organise and co-ordinate the special event.

She agreed that rushbearing was a significant part of her village's history and that it was great to see everyone coming together.

Generations of families have been involved in the tradition for years, and perhaps the biggest and most competitive tradition of the day is the role of rushbearing queen.

This year, Lily Hodgkinson donned her crown and wore her title well, following the parade as it weaved through her home village.

Mrs Troughton explained that rushbearing royalty can only be selected if they meet a range of criteria, as per their historic rules.

"It used to be picked from out a hat, but now we pick the girl who meets the four criteria.

"They must be or have been part of Low Furness school - Lily has just left.

"They must be a member of Brownies or Guides, they must go to the church, and Lily is a church warden, and they must live in the parish," added Mrs Troughton.

If there are more candidates who meet the criteria, they are randomly selected from a hat.

The crowd happily sung hymns as they wandered the streets, with a brass band, a squad of Brownies, and a number of sword bearers dressed in purple capes in tow.

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