Wrestling with a Traditional Sport in Grasmere

Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling is a sport with roots that go back centuries and which now has participants only in the northern counties of England – in Cumbria and Northumberland.  To discover more about this form of traditional wrestling, in a backhold style, Jane Hunt speaks to Linda Scott and Robert Wharton, both part of the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Association. Jane finds out more about the sport and its rules, the current take-up of opportunities to learn the sport and why Grasmere Sports is seen as the pinnacle of the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling championship season. She discovers why this type of wrestling has a geographical footprint far wider than the north of England - and actually right across Europe - and why this could potentially become an Olympic sport one day. She also learns about the deep appreciation that those in the sport have for Roger Robson, in memory of whom a new trophy has been created this year, for young wrestlers competing at Grasmere Sports in a mixed boys and girls category. Linda provides her memories of Roger but so too does woman wrestler and multiple Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling champion, Connie Hodgson, to whom Jane also talks. Connie also explains all about her wider family's involvement in this traditional sport, her fantastic success in the sport and the international travel it has given her.  She also highlights how she is using her role as a physical education teacher to spread the love of this sport and how she is also having great success taking the sport into local primary schools. The podcast is part one of a double-header, with another episode, featuring backhold wrestlers from Iceland and Brittany, hot on its heels.