Cheese Rolling Abandoned

A 200-year old traditional festival of rolling the cheese down a steep hill has been canceled following rising fears over the safety of the participants.

The age-old festival saw participants chase down large blocks of Double Gloucester cheeses down the steep side of Cooper's Hill with injuries being a common side effect of the event.

However the rising popularity of the event means that a large number of people gather to watch the chase with last year’s event boasting of a 15,000 strong spectators. The regional police contacted the organizing committee and advised them to cancel this year’s event after expressing concern over the safety of both the participants and the spectators.

“We have had to cancel on the advice of the police and local authorities this year because of the issues of health and safety and other aspects. As well as concerns about the safety of the crowd and the competitors, local landowners were also worried by the amount of damage done by people climbing over fences and that sort of thing”, said Richard Jefferfies of the organising committee.


Source-Medindia
RAS