Yahoo Lifestyle Hundreds celebrate seaside town's Skipping Day
Hundreds of people have descended on a seaside town to take part in its annual Skipping Day, which has been held every year since early last century.
The event, in Scarborough, was first officially recorded in 1903, and is held on Shrove Tuesday following the day's other traditional activity of pancake racing.
Many school pupils get half a day away from classes to take part, with the town's Foreshore Road being closed to cars for the celebrations.
Les Shannon, from the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre, said local residents had fiercely defended the unique tradition over the years, saying "we need to preserve it".
Mr Shannon told BBC Radio York: "Every time we get a new headmaster, the first thing they want to do is stop the [half day of school], but locally we push very much to keep that tradition."
He said in its early days, most of the town had an "unofficial bank holiday" as servants and labourers were given a half day off for Lent.
Celebrations would begin after the town's "pancake bell" was rung at midday, which originally signalled the beginning of Lent and then, in the 1800s, became the cue to start cooking pancakes, Mr Shannon explained.
Scarborough councillor Janet Jefferson, who had the honour of ringing the bell this year, said she had taken part in the town's Shrove Tuesday celebrations since childhood.
However, she said she became "seriously involved" when she began judging the pancake races 15 years ago.
She said participants were judged not just on their speed, but also their costumes and ability to entertain the crowd.
"The actual races are very very competitive," she added.
Elsewhere in North Yorkshire, Ripon kicked off its Shrove Tuesday celebrations with its own tradition of a pancake race between the Dean of Ripon Cathedral and the Residentiary Canons.
The Very Reverend John Dobson said: "We wear our red cassocks just to help give us a bit of extra speed."
"It's a great day. There's always a great sense of celebration," he added.
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