Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake


The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England. It was traditionally held by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth, Gloucestershire, but now people from all over the world take part. The Guardian newspaper called it a "world-famous event", with winners coming from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Nepal.

Format

From the top of the hill, a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down the hill, and competitors then start racing down the hill after it. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. The competitors are aiming to catch the cheese; however, it has around a one-second head start and can reach speeds up to, enough to knock over and injure a spectator. In the 2013 competition, a foam replica replaced the cheese for reasons of safety. The winner was given the prize of an actual cheese after the competition.
The Cheese Rollers pub in the nearby village of Shurdington, about from Cooper's Hill, takes its name from the event. The nearest pubs to the event are The Cross Hands and The Victoria, both of which are in Brockworth, which competitors frequent for some pre-event Dutch courage or discussion of tactics and after the event for convalescence.

History

This ceremony originally took place each Whit Monday, before it later was moved to the Spring Bank Holiday. Two possible origins have been proposed for the ceremony. The first is said that it evolved from a requirement for maintaining grazing rights on the common.
The second proposal is pagan origins for the custom of rolling objects down the hill. It is thought that bundles of burning brushwood were rolled down the hill to represent the birth of the New Year after winter. Connected with this belief is the traditional scattering of buns, biscuits and sweets at the top of the hill by the Master of Ceremonies. This is said to be a fertility rite to encourage the fruits of harvest.
The first written evidence of cheese rolling is found from a message written to the Gloucester town crier in 1826; even then it was apparent the event was an old tradition. Each year, the event becomes more and more popular, with contestants coming from all across the world to compete, or even simply to watch.
In 1982, a team of students from the University of Bristol filmed the May 31 1982 event using film cameras. One camera was set on slow motion. Jamie Hartzell, Director/Writer, Barbara Wyatt, Production Manager/Editor.
In 1993, fifteen people were injured, four seriously, chasing cheeses down the one-in-three hill.
In 2009 it was cancelled due to concerns over health and safety. In 2010 a group of journalists and local residents threw a smaller version, in keeping with tradition, to keep grazing rights. In 2011, Candis Phillips and Sara Stevens bought and dressed four cheeses and so the revival of this famous old tradition continued.
The 2011 event took place without management, due to safety concerns over the number of people visiting the event, resulting in the 'Save the Cheese Roll' campaign. Despite the cancellation and lack of paramedics, around 500 people showed up in 2011 to hold some spontaneous races; no major injuries were reported.
The event is traditional and takes its name from the steep hill on which it occurs. Until recent years, it was managed in a quasi-official manner by nominated locals, but since 2010 the event has taken place spontaneously without any management.
The cheese-rolling event was cancelled in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cheese

The cheese currently used in the event is Double Gloucester, a hard cheese traditionally made in a circular shape. Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round the side, and is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race. Formerly, three cheeses were presented by parishioners, and the cheeses were usually rolled by them. A collection is usually made now to purchase them, as well as sweets, and also to provide prize money. The current supplier is local cheesemaker Diana Smart and her son Rod, who have supplied the cheese since 1988.
In May 2013, a police inspector warned the 86-year-old cheese maker Diana Smart that she could be held responsible for injuries. Chief Superintendent Nigel Avron of Gloucestershire Police also made these comments: "If you are an organiser in some way or some capacity you could potentially be held liable for something that took place at that event". In recent years, organisers of the event, have felt compelled to use a lightweight foam version for safety reasons. In the second race Australian Caleb Stalder managed to catch the fake cheese and claim victory, despite being some way behind the leaders.

Injuries

Due to the steepness and uneven surface of Cooper's Hill, there are usually a number of injuries each year. A first aid service is provided by the local St John Ambulance at the bottom of the hill. Members of the local rugby club and Young Farmers volunteer their services by acting as 'catchers' for any participants who lose their balance and also are on hand to carry down any casualties requiring first aid who do not reach the bottom. A number of ambulance vehicles attend the event, since there is invariably at least one and often several injuries requiring hospital treatment.
Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling has been summarised by a previous participant as "twenty young men chasing a cheese off a cliff and tumbling 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital". This quotation was reported in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper of 13 November 2008, in an amusingly titled article 'Return to Edam'. The same article reports one Scottish competitor prodding another in the ribs at the top of the hill, quizzing him if his "travel insurance cover this"? The Australian author, Sam Vincent, "questions his sanity" as he is "crouched on the summit of a diabolical slope", alongside thirteen other competitors whilst they are "awaiting the call to start what is surely the world's most dangerous footrace".
The notoriety of cheese rolling is widespread and its somewhat de facto tally of annual injuries has been the subject of much coverage in news and television programmes. Alongside reputable broadcasters such as the BBC Television reporting, the global sports magazine TV shows Gillette World Sport and Trans World Sport have both mused at the activities and the ensuing injuries for many years.

Results

Multiple winners

Men's race

An annual cheese-rolling event has taken place in Chester since about 2002, to promote the town's food and drink festival. The rolling takes place on the flat down an obstacle course.

Cheese-rolling in popular culture