THIS scene, from a postcard dated 1910, shows Scartop Charity or Sunday School anniversary, held on the second Sunday in June, traditionally in the open air when the weather allowed.
Ponden Mill appears in the background, with the choir and participants in the service occupying a platform in front of the central building.
Whiteley Turner, author of A Spring-Time Saunter Round and About Bronte Land published in 1913, estimated an attendance of nearly 2,000, rather oddly based on a collection comprising “four sovereigns, 12 half sovereigns, one Postal Order for 10s, 26 half-crowns, 18 florins, 83 shillings, 136 sixpences, 339 threepenny-pieces, 693 pennies and 254 half-pennies.”
Even assuming that each worshipper contributed a single coin, this still comes to only 1,566.
Scartop Charity used to be nicknamed t’Coppin’-on Charity because it offered opportunities for young men and women to get acquainted, with a view to courtship!
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