| Where: | Leighton Buzzard, Beds from All Saints Church to the Almshouses on North Street |
| When: | Rogation Sunday (formerly Monday) |
| Time: | 10.30 am (follows the 9.30 service) |
Wilkes Walk is an annual procession to the Almshouses on North Street in Leighton Buzzard; it takes place every Rogation Sunday in memory of Edward Wilkes who founded the Almshouses in the seventeenth century. The procession includes a garland-bearer, clergy, Almshouse officials and the choir of All Saints Church; after a short service a reading is taken from Wilkes’ will while one of the choir members stands on their head. Many rogationtide boundary marking customs involve youngsters being bumped, upended or whipped at set boundary points to help them remember the location of the landmarks, and perhaps the head-stand derives from this. Money is given to the Almshouse residents and refreshments are provided back at the Market Cross near the Church.
Helpful Hints
Rogation Sunday is the Sunday starting the week in which Ascension Day falls and because these are linked to Easter they vary in date from year to year. In earlier years the walk always took place on Rogation Monday but in 2015 it was on the Sunday instead and there are currently no plans to revert to the Monday as it’s much easier to arrange at the weekend.
In 2025 it should be on Sunday May 25th.
Click here for the church website: http://allsaintslb.org.uk
and here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/allsaintsleightonbuzzard/
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- High Street
Many thanks to Jo Waller & Carolyn Gray of All Saints Church for some of the photos!
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A fantastic local tradition which I am delighted to see All Saints Church vigorously maintaining. The only slight dampener is that it often coincides with rainy days.
Sadly that’s a very common problem for British traditions!We must have got lucky when we visited a couple of years ago as it didn’t rain then.