Lake District Children Invited to Design a Traditional Wrestling Outfit

Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show is inviting talented primary school-aged children to help celebrate the traditional Lakeland sport of Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, by creating a design for an outfit.

The show organisers are asking local primary school children, in Grasmere and Rydal, to take their template and complete it with a design of their own choice which demonstrates their love of their local area and things they would want to have on their costume.

However, children under the age of 11 can also enter independently from home, filling in the template with features and colours that highlight what they feel about life in this idyllic part of the Lake District.

“We expect that some designs will feature landscape and lakes but that other will have deeply personal elements, relating to home, family, friends and, of course, what children love in their daily lives,” says the show’s Sports and Field Manager, Deborah Black.

“Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling costumes can be very ornate and beautifully and lovingly embroidered by the parents and grandparents of passionate young wrestlers, so our competition is putting a spin on this and asking children what they would want on their costume.”

Wrestlers’ costumes are a major part of the region’s wrestling tradition and an annual competition is held at each Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show, to reward the very finest.

Officially, these days, a wrestler competing in a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling bout should wear a singlet (vest), socks, leggings fitting tightly to the leg and an elasticated centre-piece around the waist and the legs. 

Traditionally, however, how a wrestler was turned out was very much part of their family pride and a way to compete against fellow wrestlers in the presentation stakes.  It added colour and style to the sport and, even if not worn, for the most part, in bouts today, it is still a part of local custom kept alive through the costume competition.

To download the template, whether for your child or your school class, head to www.grasmeresports.com   A prize of £25 from Grasmere Sports Committee, to be presented to the winner of the contest on Grasmere Lakeland Show and Sports day itself, awaits the best entry submitted before the closing date of August 15, 2023.

Ends

Editors notes

Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show is an iconic event taking place in the heart of the English Lake District on the August Bank Holiday weekend. Its long historic roots date back to 1868 and it is renowned for its fell running, hound trails and Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling competitions, as well as being a fantastic family day out.