History of Austerlands and Scouthead: A Saddleworth Local History

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Event organiser David Needham said: “From an informal gathering of a handful of people started in 1979, popularity of the event has grown significantly over the last few years. He said: “The field had been one of the very few bits of open green space in Austerlands and Scouthead accessible to the public. It was very much larger than it now as Oldham Council sold two thirds of it leaving the remainder.

The Above and Beyond Award was presented at the Scouthead Band Contest award ceremony held at Old Original, Scouthead. And after signing the transfer documents, Cllr Jamie Curley, chair of Saddleworth parish council, said, “The field is part of the green belt and is now available to villagers for a range of community based activities.” The field, which sits alongside the A62 Huddersfield Road, hosts the Scouthead and Austerlands Whit Friday Brass Band Contest and annual Family Fun Day, as well being used by local children and dog walkers. The prize was shared by Aimee Bone, from Carr Lane in Greenfield and Paige, Krystal and Scarlett Jones of Peveril Road in Derker. Its chair, Joan Sykes, said: "This area of green belt is a great local asset not only for our community group but for Saddleworth as a whole and one which could easily be lost if not protected.As new Mayor, Joan’s duties will include leading the first band in the Whit Friday contests onto Dawson’s Field, presenting prizes at the contest presentation evening, and formally opening Scouthead and Austerlands Community Group’s Family Fun Day. Saddleworth winners were also among those who received Private Gardens merit awards, including Les Chapman from Delph and Steven Lovett from Dobcross.

Joan, who is chair of Scouthead and Austerlands Community Group, was presented with the iconic ceremonial silver clog iron chain of office by retiring Mayor Anita Aspinall.

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With this worry in mind, I applied for Capital Asset Transfer of the field from Oldham to the Saddleworth Parish Council. And considerable voluntary effort, work and expenditure by the Scouthead and Austerlands Community Group, together with members of the Scouthead band contest committee and local residents, transformed the field into a public park that is well used and enjoyed. The sign takes pride of place We were more than pleased with the large turnout which justified the Heywood Lane road closure. We are grateful to the Scouthead & Austerlands Community Group for providing the marshals for crowd control and traffic management.