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New footage of 1930s cheese-rolling contest discovered

Steve KnibbsGloucestershire
News imageUnknown A black and white frame from a film showing a well dressed woman in 1930s attire with a white cheese wrapped in ribbons. Unknown
The footage, here thought to show Miss Ethel Priday starting the race, was captured by an amateur film maker in the 1930s

A film of cheese rolling, thought to be from the early-1930s, has been discovered by a local historian.

The footage shows the popular event in quieter times with well-dressed competitors chasing the famed Double Gloucester down the steep hillside of Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire.

In one scene, a group of young children hold up one of the cheeses and look directly into the camera, apparently amused by what would have been the rare sight of someone filming them.

Another sequence shows an unusual final race in which a large object, not resembling a cheese, is rolled down the hill. As it breaks apart, pieces scatter across the slope, before the winner is presented with what appears to be a cabbage.

Footage from the 1930's of the Cooper's Hill cheese roll

The film has all the hallmarks of amateur footage, but there is no record of who filmed it or how it came to be preserved.

A woman about to roll the cheese to start the race is believed to be Miss Ethel Priday who helped organised the event for many years.

It was discovered by Jean Jefferies in Cheltenham whose late husband, Richard, used to organise the cheese roll when they lived on Cooper's Hill.

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Jefferies later wrote a book about the history of the event, and the footage was found on a DVD at the bottom of a box containing her research papers and artefacts.

However, she said she had "no idea" where it had come from.

"Someone must have sent it to me but it wasn't in the days when I would have made a note of who it was. It's a mystery," she explained.

News imageA DVD in a closed plastic case. It has "Cheese Roll c.1932" written on it in red marker pen.
The film was discovered on a DVD in a box of research papers belonging to Jean Jefferies, who wrote a book on the history of the cheese rolling
News imageUnknown Black and white frame from a film showing a hazy pictures of a group of people running down a hill. There is a large white object in the right hand corner. Unknown
Mystery surrounds where the film came from and includes footage of another object being chased down the hill
News imageUnknown Black and white frame from a film showing a man in a white shirt and dark waistcoat holding a cabbage in his right hand. Unknown
It seems that the winner of one race was given a cabbage as a prize!

Mystery also surrounds what appears to have replaced the cheese in the final race shown in the film.

Whatever was used was extremely large and does not look like a cheese.

There appears to be large sections of it broken up all over the hill in one shot.

At the end the winner is given a prize, which resembles a cabbage.

Appeal for information

The origins of the film - and the identity of the person who shot it - remain unknown.

Anyone who recognises the footage, knows who may have filmed it, or can identify people featured in it is being asked to get in touch.

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