The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever comes to Preston

Lancashire Post

As far as music videos go, it doesn’t get much more iconic than Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights. The inspiration for many a solo-attempt in front of the bedroom mirror, the much-celebrated dance routine had fans the world over. And one of them has decided to bring the illustrious choreography to Preston, staging a huge gathering of Kate Bush fans as part of The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever. A charity dance event in aid of Lancashire Mind and Preston Domestic Violence Service, the meeting of Kate Bushes took place on Sunday in Preston’s Avenham Park, as the sea of green soon became a mirage of red. Take a look at a few of our best pictures from the occasion.

Transcript

00:00 Channel Cathy, here we go.

00:03 Let's bring ourselves down and ready into start position.

00:07 - We love Kate Bush.

00:10 - Yeah.

00:10 - We love Kate Bush.

00:11 - We love Kate Bush as well, don't you?

00:12 - And we love being silly as well.

00:13 - Yeah.

00:14 I suppose something like this is the chance

00:16 to actually do something which a lot of people,

00:17 you know, we've all had a go at the dance,

00:19 but to come and do it in public for a good cause,

00:20 it's a really nice thing.

00:21 - Yeah, we've seen the pictures from all over the world.

00:23 Berlin, Sydney, everywhere's doing it, so.

00:28 Preston, why not?

00:29 - Yeah, definitely.

00:30 - It's nice to celebrate Kate as well

00:32 and all things that's happening.

00:33 - Have you been long-time fans?

00:34 - Oh yeah, definitely.

00:35 - All my life.

00:36 - Raised, raised well.

00:38 - Raised very well.

00:39 How about you guys?

00:40 So when it actually came to coming down today,

00:42 was it just like you saw the event,

00:43 you were like, that's for us?

00:44 - Yeah, it's also your favourite singer is Shayna Payton.

00:48 - Oh, yeah.

00:48 - Yeah.

00:49 (laughing)

00:50 - It's amazing.

00:51 - It's amazing.

00:52 - So we thought we'd come down and see what it's all about.

00:53 - Yeah.

00:54 I suppose it's nice, it's raising money for charity as well.

00:55 - Yeah, definitely.

00:56 - Yeah, it's really important for us, so.

00:57 - Yeah, good stuff, excellent.

01:00 - Well, I'm 50 this year, I've just turned 50 on Thursday,

01:04 and I needed to do something new for my birthday.

01:09 And so this was one of the things,

01:12 joining Morris was another, so I've become a Morris man.

01:15 And that was it, it was, I saw it advertised,

01:21 I was originally going down south,

01:23 but then saw there was a nearer one here, so I came here.

01:25 - Brilliant stuff.

01:26 And in terms of the motivation to actually come

01:28 and take part in something as special as

01:30 Dancing Like a Kate Bush, Wuthering Heights thing,

01:32 have you always been a fan, or is it like, yeah, that's for me?

01:33 - I was a fan from the '70s.

01:35 - Yeah.

01:37 - Yes, and Wuthering Heights is a great song,

01:39 just like Running Up the Hill.

01:40 They were songs that I liked as a child.

01:44 - Yeah, yeah, definitely.

01:45 - As a young child.

01:46 - And I suppose iconic music videos as well,

01:48 so it's the kind of thing which people

01:49 have probably danced to for ages,

01:50 but the chance to get to do it in public with other people,

01:52 that's a really nice thing.

01:53 - Indeed, indeed, and I've learned some moves, some of them.

01:56 - Yeah.

01:57 (laughing)

01:58 - No, I've had fun trying to learn it,

02:02 and I'm hoping to have fun trying to dance it.

02:04 - Yeah, I was gonna say, how much are you just looking

02:06 forward to taking part with other people?

02:07 It's just a bit of fun, isn't it, really?

02:08 - Yes, and the amount of people,

02:11 there's meant to be 300 of them, 300 today.

02:15 So the amount of other people that are willing

02:17 to give it a go, I think it's brilliant.

02:18 - We're all here to take part in a mass dance,

02:22 the Wuthering Heights dance.

02:23 So it's the dance from Kate Bush's song,

02:27 Wuthering Heights.

02:29 It's a worldwide event, so it happens all over the world,

02:31 Australia, America, Europe.

02:34 There's been one in Edinburgh yesterday,

02:35 and there's another one in Folkestone today.

02:38 So everyone gets together, and Sarah and Tony

02:42 will show everybody what to do,

02:43 and then everybody takes part in the dance en masse.

02:46 - Absolutely brilliant.

02:47 Tony, come as yourself, what do you think

02:49 makes Wuthering Heights so special,

02:50 given by the amount of people who are turning out

02:52 to come and do this kind of iconic dance?

02:54 - Yeah, I think it is, it's 'cause it's iconic,

02:56 and everyone thinks about the red dress,

02:59 and the flower, and the way she moves.

03:02 I think it's all about how that works,

03:04 and people just know it, and they love it.

03:07 It's just iconic, isn't it?

03:08 - Yeah, yeah, that's the word.

03:09 So what you're kind of hoping people take away from today,

03:12 you just come along and have fun, and a bit of expression?

03:14 - Just fun, yeah.

03:16 It's not about doing the dance right,

03:17 it's just about coming along, having a brilliant time,

03:20 raising loads of money for charity,

03:22 and I think we all need this kind of stuff.

03:25 People aren't getting together

03:26 and doing just daft things enough at the minute,

03:28 and if we can do that, and raise loads of money

03:31 for a good cause, even better.

03:33 - Even better, absolutely.

03:34 I suppose the charity angle's quite an important part

03:36 of this, Helen, it's really nice that this kind of thing,

03:38 which is bringing people together over a shared interest

03:40 in something frivolous and fun, like Sarah was saying,

03:42 but also the fact that you're doing it for a good cause,

03:43 well, that's kind of a crucial part.

03:45 - Yeah, yeah, so it's the charities

03:47 that we're raising money for,

03:48 Lancashire Mind and Preston Domestic Violence Service,

03:50 so two really fantastic charities.

03:52 So as much as we can raise,

03:53 we've already raised some money,

03:54 people have already donated so far,

03:56 and we're hoping to raise some more today, so,

03:58 thanks, Chris.

03:59 - Just a general question, saying all three of you,

04:01 how did this come about?

04:02 Why Wuthering Heights, why this in general?

04:05 - My random idea.

04:06 (laughing)

04:07 So like I say, it is a worldwide event,

04:08 and it first came to mind just before the pandemic.

04:13 I've got some friends who live in Oslo,

04:14 and they'd posted on their Instagram

04:16 that they'd done this in Oslo,

04:17 and I was like, my God, that looks amazing,

04:19 we need to do that.

04:20 And then the pandemic hit,

04:23 so it kind of obviously didn't happen,

04:24 and then Sarah and I were talking again

04:26 with our friend Lou,

04:27 and we were like, no, we need to make this happen, so.

04:30 - Definitely, definitely.

04:31 So I mean, Sarah, you both dedicated

04:32 Kate Bush fans as well?

04:33 - Oh yeah.

04:34 - Oh, yes.

04:35 - Who isn't, I suppose?

04:36 - We all quite, yeah.

04:37 - Why wouldn't you be?

04:38 - Someone giving us a wave.

04:40 They wanted to organise this event today.

04:42 It's actually Kate Bush's 65th birthday this year,

04:46 so what better way to celebrate

04:49 than flinging ourselves around a park,

04:52 hopefully in the sunshine.

04:53 - Oh, it's all right, I'm proud of you.

04:55 - No, no, I'm not.

04:56 - Excellent, right, I'm here with Helen and Lou,

04:58 the organisers of this event.

04:59 So guys, how was that?

05:00 - It was amazing, very cool, very cool.

05:03 - It could not look like more fun if anyone tried.

05:07 It was absolutely brilliant.

05:08 - We had such a laugh.

05:09 - We did, we did, and the weather held off.

05:11 I was so worried it was gonna rain.

05:13 Everyone looked like they had such a good time.

05:14 It was amazing.

05:15 - I've never seen so many smiles on faces.

05:17 (laughing)

05:17 - I'm so smiley now, it's a bit weird.

05:20 - And if, say, this event was to be held another time,

05:22 what would you say to someone thinking

05:23 about possibly coming down next time?

05:25 - Just do it!

05:26 - Just do it, yeah.

05:27 - Do it, do it.

05:27 And everyone has to wear the red dress,

05:30 boy or girl, definitely.

05:31 - Absolutely.

05:32 - Oh yeah, I mean, people were saying

05:33 I haven't got a red dress.

05:34 If you don't have a red dress, anything red.

05:36 You saw people were just wearing whatever,

05:37 so anything red is absolutely fine.

05:39 Yeah, just come and have fun, it was great.

05:41 - Woo, and we did it!

05:45 You were amazing!

05:46 You have wooed fantastically!

05:52 Be very proud of yourselves,

05:53 and thank you for coming along

05:55 to support these two brilliant charities.

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