Throwing the beer out of your pram...

Easter Mondays in Leyland brought a buzz about the town in the 1960s and 1970s.
This photo from reader Frank Werrill of Leyland, was taken on Easter Monday in 1960 during the Leyland Pram RaceThis photo from reader Frank Werrill of Leyland, was taken on Easter Monday in 1960 during the Leyland Pram Race
This photo from reader Frank Werrill of Leyland, was taken on Easter Monday in 1960 during the Leyland Pram Race

Why? It was the Leyland Pram Race, where adults dressed up and were pushed in bizarre carts and prams.

The original route was from Worden Park to the pubs down Fox Lane, going along Leyland Lane and up Golden Hill to finish.

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Then in the 1980s, the route was from Worden Park to the Rose and Crown at 
Farrington and back.”

Reader Andrew Quinn posted on Leyland Memories Facebook Group: “I was born and brought up in Leyland in the 1970s and like many remember the festival every year.

But how many remember the annual pram race which I always enjoyed watching and found very funny?

“I remember they were pushing prams and drinking beer while racing.”

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Barbara Wiggins posted: “Loved it. I wish they would fetch it back it was good fun to watch.”

Mike Cowburn recalled: “I was a ‘baby’ in a pram one year we came last BUT I got to drink left over half pints at the pubs on the return journey. It was from Worden Park to the Rose and Crown at Farington and back.”

Janet Disley wrote: “Shame nothing like that happens anymore in Leyland. It was good fun.”

Christine Caunce said: “I was born and brought up in Leyland in the 1950s. I remember the pram race well. It was always Easter Monday.

“Lots of folk would line up to watch. Fab day for all.”

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Tom Howarth reminisced: “As a young lad, I helped my dad set up the trestle tables full of foaming half pints of beer for the ‘babies’ and ‘mothers.’

“Every family had big wheeled prams in those days so there was never a shortage.”

Norma Tomlinson posted: “I remember going to watch it and it was funny until the end when men were throwing up.”

And the pram race was indeed resurrected last year as part of the Leyland Festival.

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