SO Knutsford Town Council finance committee has agreed to support Chester-based Minerva Arts in delivering a ‘lost’ souling play around Halloween (Town Clerk’s Corner, Knutsford Guardian, February 9, 2017).
Cheshire Souling Plays are not ‘lost’; there were over 90 performances in Cheshire during 2016, by several groups, which perform traditional versions in their own locality. The Souling Play has been performed in or around Knutsford since at least 1983 by various groups of players, including those covering quite wide geographic areas based around Warburton, Mobberley and Comberbach.
These groups have been sensitive to each others’ area of operations. The Warburton players, including Knutsford residents, has voluntarily given six performances of the Souling Play in Knutsford every year since at least 2009 around about All Souls Eve.
The donations received from Knutsford businesses, residents and visitors have gone well over £10,000, which has gone to charities since 2009.
Why is it necessary for the town council to pay a group to come from Chester to compete with the local charitable and voluntary production that Knutsford businesses and residents have supported for so very many years?
Andy Coatsworth
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