SP1339 : Fireworks at the Cotswold Olimpick Games
taken 6 years ago, near to Aston Subedge, Gloucestershire, England
The Cotswold Olimpick Games takes place each year on the Friday after Spring Bank Holiday. The games were founded by local lawyer Robert Dover in 1612. In 1642, with the start of the English civil war the games ceased, but resumed after the restoration and continued until 1852. The games were revived in the 1960s and have taken place almost every year since. The event takes place on Dover’s Hill on the Cotswold escarpment near Chipping Campden. Participants take part in events including tug of war, gymkhana, shin-kicking, and morris dancing. The British Olympic Association has recognised the Cotswold Olimpick Games as "the first stirrings of Britain's Olympic beginnings". The London Olympics in 2012 took place on the four hundredth anniversary of the first games taking place and also coincided with Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
The games close with the lighting of a beacon followed by a torchlight procession down into Chipping Campden.