Rare footage of Scarborough ‘Skipping Day’

Yorkshire-born Geoffrey Willey was a versatile and highly-productive photographer and videographer during a career spanning more than seven decades. Ryedale Folk Museum is fortunate to have benefitted from his passion for photography as one of our early and dedicated volunteers. Geoffrey often photographed the Museum, capturing moments from our own history.

Living to the age of 103, Geoffrey photographed and recorded glimpses of life across many decades, before leaving his collection to the museum upon his death in 2015.

Among his subject matter, Scarborough often featured. This town where Geoffrey had grown up from the age of eight was obviously of great importance to him. 

You can see very rare footage here of Scarborough Skipping Day – held each year on Shrove Tuesday, captured by Geoffrey during the 1930s. 

For more than a century, Shrove Tuesday or ‘Pancake Day’ has been celebrated by crowds gathering to take part in ‘Skipping Day’ on Scarborough seafront. At its height, thousands of participants take up their ropes for the mass-skipping event.