Thirty years ago on May 28th 1973 a Festival was held in Moston. It featured Rush carts, Clog dancers, Morris men and other traditional themes plus Brass bands and numerous displays on Floats. Unfortunately this wonderful cavalcade was a one-off occasion.

A committee has now been formed to restore a bit of tradition and make it an annual event. This, the first year’s festival, had the luxury of three venues to give the visitors plenty to see.

Moston Lane School was the main centre of activity with performers on stilts dressed as Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh, jugglers, jesters and people parading in period costumes. Adults and children really got into the swing of things. We also had drawings of Hough Hall done by pupils at the school.
Hough Hall is situated behind Moston Lane School; it was built in the 1500s for a Merchant called Hugh Shacklock, in the Tudor style of stone, plaster and timber. Throughout it’s existence, the hall has had an abundance of different owners. A past owner was Roger Aytoun, a hero of the siege of Gibraltar 1783. He was widely known as “Spanking Roger”, yes! A pub in Miles Platting is named after him. The Hall was open for the day and lots of people were treading the timbers that have been trod many times over the past 500 years. It is in very good condition and well worth all the effort to have it preserved as an open Museum for the Moston community.

Moston Youth Club was a welcome venue when it came to refreshments; the young lads and lassies merit a special congratulation on their efforts, and the ladies serving in the Cafe can really brew a good cuppa too. The stallholders did a splendid job. Their wares sold like hot cakes, as did the raffle tickets. The first prize was a lovely cake donated by Asda. On the top was a picture in icing of Hough Hall.

In the hall upstairs there was a Tudor dance Workshop with youngsters in period dress, while in one of the side rooms Eileen from MCIN had a queue of people waiting to have a go on the Internet. Here we saw two gentlemen in period costumes sitting at computers surfing the net, a scene to complement the Hough Hall Motto of “The past is our future“.

On this lovely sunny Saturday, it was a refreshing jump back to the “Olde Worlde” scene for a few hours. Everyone attending thought it was great and the support of the Security Wardens, Police and St John ambulance workers helped to keep the whole event running smoothly. Mr Clough of Hough Hall mingled with the visitors too. Well done to all involved; it was a good basis on which to build the future events planned for Moston.
Tom Connor