Traditional egg rolling event returns for Easter

A traditional Easter egg rolling event is set to make its return to a Lancashire park on Easter Monday.

The free event is expected to draw thousands to the slopes of Preston's Avenham Park, where the famous egg rolls will take place on the hour, every hour, from 11:00 to 16:00 BST on Easter Monday, 6 April.

Families are invited to bring decorated eggs, chocolate or otherwise, and watch them tumble down the hill in a spectacle that is recognised as one of UK's longest‑running Easter egg rolling traditions.

This year's line‑up will see the park transformed into a festival setting, with market stalls, street performers, workshops and an Easter bonnet competition.

Organisers believe the mixture of tradition and entertainment keeps families returning, year after year.

Timothy Joel, head of culture at Preston City Council, says the cross‑generational pull is what makes the event "really special".

"You get grandparents, parents, children coming - it's an annual tradition and on the checklist of Easter, and you've got to make sure you've done your egg rolling for Easter to be complete in Preston.

"It's also a great day out for visitors who aren't from Preston."

Egg rolling in its earliest recorded form dates back centuries. Preston's version is known to have been well‑established by the 19th Century, when families would decorate "pace‑eggs" using onion skins to give them a mottled golden finish.

Some of these were rolled competitively - the winner being whichever egg travelled furthest without cracking - while others were simply launched downhill for the joy of it.

Children would pride themselves on their designs, parents would test out the "best rolling spot" on the slope, and the whole community turned out to cheer them on.

"Preston really emerged and took egg rolling - a traditional custom that dates back to the Middle Ages - and made it its own," said Dr Jack Southern, public history lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire.

"It became a family‑friendly event where children are involved and adds other elements, moving away from hard‑boiled eggs to chocolate eggs eventually.

"It's kept a culture alive that's died out in other places."

The folklore surrounding the event includes the belief that any leftover eggshells should be destroyed after rolling - otherwise, witches could steal them and use them as boats to sail across rivers.

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