Rossendale - Sports and Entertainment

Sports and Entertainment

Three Rossendale towns have cricket clubs in the Lancashire League - Bacup, Haslingden and Rawtenstall. The overseas professionals who are associated with the League have therefore often lived in the Rossendale Valley. For example, Everton Weekes was long associated with Bacup; Clive Lloyd with Haslingden.

The popular comedy series, The League of Gentlemen is apparently based upon Rossendale (and perhaps Bacup in particular), playing upon stereotypes and exaggerations of the area. Subsequently, the producers filmed in various northern towns, one of which was Bacup itself, which Jeremy Dyson (writer) and Steve Pemberton (actor) proclaimed, "Bacup was the furthest we went into Lancashire. Bacup was our hot favourite, but it was too frightening - when we arrived there was this cartoon drunk with a bottle shaking his fist at us. Bacup in real life was worse than Royston Vasey".

Various towns within the Rossendale Valley were used for filming scenes of the BBC TV series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates during the 1990s.

The 1980 drama Juliet Bravo was filmed in Rossendale.

During autumn 2008 areas around Rossendale were used in the filming of the BBC TV series Survivors (2008 TV Series) including the Airtours site and other sites in Helmshore and Bank Street in Rawtenstall.

The area has a sizeable ski slope, appropriately named Ski Rossendale, which attracts many visitors. The slope has spawned and aided the Brass brothers, Steve Bailey and Danny Wheeler; and more recently Johnny Greenwood, Colum Mytton and Molly Percival to fame in the snowboarding world.

Rossendale RUFC for many years had been a small rugby club playing in the lower leagues, but in recent years the club had gained two promotions to take them into National 3 North. Notable players such Daniel Collins, Dave Wood and Tim Fourie now play at the valley side.

Until recent years, Rossendale also hosted the Rossendale Motorbike Show which brought in motorbike enthusiasts from across the country.

Based in Nelson, the Rossendale Model Stock Car Club races scalextric-like 1/32 scale model stock cars.

Rossendale is sometimes called “The Valley of Song”, and this was certainly the case when the choir was founded in 1924, by the late Fred Tomlinson MBE. He took a group of men and moulded them into one of the country’s finest male voice choirs, winning countless festivals, including the international Eisteddfod in Llangollen on four occasions.

The choir has been fortunate in enjoying the services of several conductors, some of whom have remained for many years. The choir's current musical director is Kate Shipway, and like all the others, Kate brings something new and vibrant to the table, and it is from this diversity that the choir has continued to draw great benefit.

Over the years, and from different competitions, trophies and silverware have been held aloft and brought back to the valley. Whilst these are a good yard-stick of the choir’s abilities, they have never been the most important aspect of what the choir does, and why they do it.

Friendships between the members are integral to the choir, and sharing a love of singing and music-making drives all members to do their very best, at any concert or festival.

These friendships extend well beyond the valley, and the choir has an active twinning association with two German choirs; a ladies choir from Monchengladbach, and a male voice choir from Bocholt. The choir has been heavily involved is charity fundraising work, and recently appeared alongside the Black Dyke Band, raising £30,000 for the Christie Hospital.