Dialect to Infuse Great Day Out at 2025’s Grasmere Sports

Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show will be taking a significant step to connect Cumbrians with their roots, whilst providing visitors with a deeper sense of Cumbrian culture this summer.

The Show, taking place on Sunday August 24, will be seeking to convey to those who pass through the gate, “oor mak o’ tooak’, or “our kind of talk”.  By working with the Lakeland Dialect Society, who will have a stand at the Show, it hopes to demonstrate that local dialect, tradition and culture are all intrinsically entwined.

This is easily understood in the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling ring, where a sport steeped in Cumbrian heritage invites competitors to “tak hod” (take hold), as the first step in any contest.  Interestingly, there is an entire poem written in Lake District dialect called ‘Gers’mer Spooarts’.  The Sports has been part of the landscape since 1852, when dialect would have been far more commonly spoken and overheard, so there is a strong link.

Some words that may be heard on the field this year are unique to Lake District dialect. These include scrow, meaning ‘mess’, clarty (sticky), laik (to play) and brant (steep).

Much of Lake District dialect goes back to old Celtic speech but other words are taken from Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian.  In a podcast for Grasmere Sports last year, Icelandic wrestlers, who compete at the event annually, expressed their sense of connection with the Grasmere area.  This was due to them detecting much Celtic tradition and spotting lots of Celtic and Scandinavian place names.

The Lakeland Dialect Society was founded in 1939, to foster dialect in both speech and written forms, such as verse, prose and drama.  It also aims to promote the study of the area’s history and dialect used in folk lore, folk songs, local customs and traditions.  It has close links to the world of Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling and Linda Scott, the Vice President of the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Association, is also the Society’s Vice President.

The Society flourished despite the Second World War and there are now around 220 members, located in places as far flung as the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and China.  Although the organisation thrived, wars were one reason for a decline in the use of dialect, with people moving away and adopting standard English, to be better understood.  The growth of the railways was another factor eroding the use of dialect.

Lake District dialect was formerly commonly spoken and not just in farming and rural communities but in urban hubs too.  It is important to the Show’s board to keep its use alive because, if lost, this ancient oral tradition will never be recovered.

The Show is hoping to work with the Lakeland Dialect Society to produce a flyer of a few words and phrases that visitors could use.  It is also trying to get some phrases used on tannoy announcements, getting the whole crowd involved in trying to speak a little bit of dialect by saying things such as “Ah whope it aw ga’as weel” at the start of sporting events, to wish competitors luck.

“Whatever day out seekers are ‘laytin’, we hope to provide it, with lots of ‘hakes’ all day long, from our circus act, incredible ‘alternative’ brass band, unrideable cycles, fairground scam act and, of course, all the sporting action,” says Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show chairman, John Hibbert.

“Visitors will be ‘maffelt’ as to how fell runners reach the summit of the fell and appreciate what ‘cleggers’ they must be, especially when they see how ‘foondered’ they are on their arrival back at the finish line! 

“We are a ‘menseful’ Show, welcoming of everyone, not just from the local ‘nayboreed’, so we aim to give everyone a ‘larn’ day out at our ‘pill gill’, whilst also teaching them some local dialect.  We promise people won’t have to ‘war aw thee brass’, particularly thanks to our early bird ticket prices, which are on offer until the end of June and great value.”

Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show welcomes young and t’owd alike, with something for everyone.  Head to www.grasmeresports.com to grab the early bird tickets and find out more.

Notes to editors

A translation for words used here is as follows:

Ah whope it aw ga’as weel – I hope it all goes well

Laytin – looking for

Hakes – fun, games, entertainment

Maffelt – baffled

Cleggers – determined people

Foondered – jiggered; worn out

Menseful – hospitable

Nayboreed – neighbourhood

Larn – lovely

Pill gill – outside event, sports, races

War aw thee brass – spend all your money

T’owd - old

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.