St George triumphs on day of traditions
SUNSHINE one minute, raining the next, but Good Friday was nonetheless a day of events in Yorkshire and beyond.
The cast of the Heptonstall Pace Egg performed in the West Yorkshire village.
It is a traditional Mumming Play, with St George taking on contenders such as the Bold Slasher and the Black Prince of Paradine. The play is not unique to Heptonstall but is one of only a few still performed today.
Meanwhile in Northumberland, pilgrims carried wooden crosses across the sands at low tide to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne during the annual Christian Easter pilgrimage.
And in London the Passion of Jesus was performed in Trafalgar Square.
Elsewhere, the roads were predictably busy. Holiday traffic has caused “pretty horrendous” 20-mile long queues on major motorways, adding 45 minutes to journey times.
Around 2.6m car journeys were expected to be made on Good Friday, with “significant” congestion around the M25 and roads in the South-West and South-East by lunchtime.
The RAC said holidaymakers heading south were behind much of the congestion after forecasters predicted sunnier spells there over the next few days.
Queues of 15 to 20 miles were seen on the M4 and M5 interchange near Bristol, which added 45 minutes on to journey times.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “Everyone’s heading to Devon and Cornwall, that’s the attraction, and there’s been a bit of better weather.”
In Yorkshire, tourists were welcomed to the east coast resorts by bright but gusty weather.
Tourist board Visit-England said around 11 million people in the UK are planning an overnight Easter trip, generating an estimated £3.2 billion for the economy.