When Shaw and Crompton was a booming mill town, the Wakes holidays traditionally started on the first Saturday after 13 August. In the words of the dialect song Shaw Wake, it was a chance to ‘lay aside aside yur wheel un loom’ and head for ‘Shay Wake’, where ‘Thur’s flying boxus, boats, and shows, Un fruit, un pies, un tay cakes’. ‘Here’s a pig cun wissle tunes’ and ‘Red herrins con yur fortin tell’. In fact, ‘Thur’s every thin ut Shay Wake’.
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