Things to do outside London during December
My regular look ahead to events happening next month that would probably be in my events guide, if only they weren’t happening outside the psychological barrier of the M25 motorway.
Not much happening next month – everyone seems busy with Christmas and avoiding the cold.
| National Mistletoe Day | 1st Dec |
| A procession in the town famous for its annual mistletoe and holly auctions in the run up to Christmas. | Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire |
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| Rottingdean Smugglers | 1st Dec |
| A torch lit procession of pirates and smugglers and a firework display on the beach. | Rottingdean, East Sussex |
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| Fakenham Christmas Tree Festival | 1st-6th Dec |
| From 10am – 8pm each day the Church is lit up by 90 Christmas Trees, each decorated for one of the 78 charities taking part. | Fakenham, Norfolk |
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| Scroggling the Holly Weekend | 2nd Dec |
| A modern custom to decorate the town centre with boughs of holly as children in tradition dress progress with moris dancers etc through the high street. | Haworth, Yorkshire |
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| Dunster by Candlight | 7th-8th Dec |
| This annual weekend event when this preserved medieval village turns its back on the present and lights its streets with candles. | Dunster, Somerset |
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| Enthronement of the Boy Bishop at Salisbury Cathedral | 9th Dec |
| A chorister is made Bishop for the day in a medieval tradition that demoted the Bishop for the day to remind him of the humble and meek. | Salisbury, Wiltshire |
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| Montol 2012 | 21st Dec |
| Mid-winter festival with a torchlit procession through the town by traditional characters ending in a burning of a straw man on a bonfire. | Penzance, Cornwall |
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| Burning the Clocks | 21st Dec |
| People gather to make paper and willow lanterns to carry through their city and burn on the beach as a token for the end of the year. | Brighton, East Sussex |
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| Tolling the Devil’s Knell | 24th Dec |
| Every Christmas Eve the bell of Dewsbury parish church is tolled once for each year of the Christian era, to remind the devil of his defeat. | Dewsbury, West Yorkshire |
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| Hunstanton Christmas Day Swim | 25th Dec |
| Over 100 swimmers in fancy dress take place in this annual event in the local lake. | Hunstanton, Norfolk |
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| The Ba | 25th Dec |
| Traditional street rugby, played by the Uppies and Doonies with a much prized locally made leather Ba’ (ball). The Ba’ is thrown up outside St.Magnus Cathedral and the game ranges through the town. | Kirkwall, Orkney Islands |
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| Kenilworth Duck Race | 26th Dec |
| Around 1,500 yellow plastic ducks are released into the local river and raced down to the finish line. | Kenilworth, Warwickshire |
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| Boxing Day Pram Race | 26th Dec |
| Since the first race in 1968 the event has grown from six prams and a dozen runners to a hundred teams and over 800 participants. | Windlesham, Surrey |
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| Pagham Pram Race | 26th Dec |
| 60 year old tradition – started by demobbed servicemen who decided they would race. One pushing the pram and another as a baby in it, making sure to drink a pint each, at all the village pubs. | Pagham, West Sussex |
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| Marshfield Mummers | 26th Dec |
| Seven figures, led by the Town Crier with his handbell, dressed in costumes made from strips of newsprint and coloured paper, perform their play several times along the high street. | Marshfield, Gloucestershire |
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| The City of Gloucester Mummers | 26th Dec |
| A recreation of medieval mummers plays that started again in 1969. | Gloucester, Gloucestershire |
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| Boxing Day Football | 26th Dec |
| The Fishermen & Firemens Boxing day football match is Scarborough’s oldest surviving custom – according to local evidence. | Scarborough, Yorkshire |
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| Burravoe Tar Barrel | 28th Dec |
| Locals drag a flaming barrel through the town to mark the end of the year. | Burravoe, Shetland |
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| Stonehaven Fireballs Festival | 31st Dec |
| A procession through the town centre by local men swinging large fireballs around their heads. | Stonehaven |
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| Allendale Baal Fireballs | 31st Dec |
| A selected hereditary team of 45 barrel carriers known as Guisers dressed in fancy dress carry flaming whiskey barrels through the streets to the town centre where they are used to ignite a ceremonial bonfire | Allendale, Northumberland |
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| Comrie Flambeaux Procession | 31st Dec |
| At midnight, eight flambeaux or fiery torches begin their procession around the village before being ceremoniously thrown in the River Earn. | Comrie, Perthshire |
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