It’s turning into spooktactular tradition each year for the Great Wyrley villagers and the surrounding areas. People are coming together to join in on the Halloween Walk around Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay. It’s now been running for 6 years and was started during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Local lady Sarah Wiggin, (founder of the Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay ChitChat social media group on Facebook), founded the Halloween Walk back in 2020 whilst trying to think of things for herself and the family to do during the pandemic. Sarah’s friend Carrie Lawrence suggested dressing the houses, as she did hers every year for 1 night only. That was when the Halloween Walk was born. It was only intended to be for 1 year, but it proved to be that popular, residents asked for it again and again. It’s got bigger every year since, with a section of Hilton Lane being closed between 5pm-8pm this year, due to the amount of people joining in on the walk.
In 2020 Great Wyrley Carnival was cancelled due to the pandemic, locals felt they needed an alternative way to celebrate. Sally-Anne Ashford was credited with started the Great Wyrley Scarecrow trail and then Sarah Wiggin came up with the idea of the Halloween walk, (as restrictions got more relaxed and people were able to mix at that time before the second National Lockdown began a few days after the walk). It was a great way to get people out in the village and help them feel less isolated.
Each year more and more people are getting involved, by either dressing up and joining in on the Halloween Walk around the village. Or decorating their homes and giving sweets out to the children. Both homes and businesses are getting into the full spooky Halloween style, from giant skeletons, spooky ghosts, and now for the second year running, the introduction of the Halloween Scary Maize (bought to you by The Great Wyrley Carnival Community), which was on the grass at the back of the community centre last year. This year, due to windy weather conditions, the Halloween Maze got moved inside the community Centre, giving you that full scary experience as you walk through the different sections of the maze, until it opens out into the large hall with a Halloween disco for the kids, face painting, glitter tattoos and crafts for the kids to do. To enter the maze it’s £3 per person, which helps to raise money for the events that the carnival community host throughout the year.
On the Halloween Walk there are orange buckets for donations, money raised goes to help maintain the planters at the station, painting steps and for other events that are organised throughout the year. We can see this event getting even bigger next year, with even more people wanting to joining in. It’s lovely to see so many people out walking and mixing with other villagers. Let’s hope it now becomes a tradition and continues for many years.
