Oral Presentation

cheese rolling festival

iNTRO: sofia
Has it ever gone through your mind to roll a piece of cheese down a hill? Well maybe not until now,
but there’s actually a festival that does this. Today me and my friend Gonzalo Ames, will present the
Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake Festival. This is a festival that takes place in Cooper’s Hill,
near Gloucester in England. And it is held the last Monday of every May, the most recent one (that
was this year), was on may 29 2023. In this festival, participants race down a 180m long hill
chasing a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. This festival was originally held by people of
the local village of Brockworth, however, new people from all over the world are now taking
part in it. Nowadays there are winners from Canada, Belgium, Egypt, Australia, the United
States and New Zealand.

There isn’t an exact origin, however, there are 2 possible origins. The first is about the maintenance of
grazing rights on Cooper's Hill, while the second refers to an ancient pagan festival to commemorate
the arrival of spring, where people threw piles of burning bushes down the hill representing the end of
winter.

The cheese currently used in the event is 7–9-pound (3–4-kilogram) Double Gloucester, a hard
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cheese made in a circular shape. Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round
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the side, and is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race.

HOW IT WORKS
The competition is something really simple. Men, women and children compete in different
individual races. The race starts when the cheese wheel is released by the master of
ceremonies at the top of Cooper’s Hill. At that moment, contestants start running down the
hill in order to, originally, be the first ones to catch the cheese wheel. In recent years the
method to win the competition has changed, being now the winner the person who crosses the
finish line first. The prize for the winner is a brand new wheel of cheese, which they can take
home. The competition is known to be a dangerous sport, as the ground imperfections make it
easy to trip on and fall, making people roll down the hill. But this didn’t keep participants
from entering the competition. In fact, every year there are more participants competing in
this festival than the previous ones. Contestants from all over the world travel to England in
order to take part in the festival, either participating or just spectating, but in overall, to have
a good time in the village of Brockworth.

To conclude, we can indeed say that the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake Festival is
not something ordinary. It is something amazing and out of the ordinary that looks fun to
participate in. It has become so popular that even foreigners travel thousands of miles in order
to be part of the event. It is nice to see that a festival which was originally held by local
people could reach people in many parts of the world and is able to join them together in a
spot just to participate in a funny competition and have a great time together.