THE history of ‘Bradford’s forgotten Saint’ was brought back to life over the weekend as festival-goers raised a glass to St Blaise, the Patron Saint of Woolcombers.

The three-day event was organised by historian, poet, and showman Glyn Watkins, who dressed up as St Blaise in his bid to revive his memory.

Legend has it that the Armenian Bishop was martyred around 315 AD after his skin was scraped off with woolcombs. His life was celebrated by wool workers every February 3 until the last known large-scale procession in his honour, featuring around 1,000 people, in 1825.

A group led by Mr Watkins recreated the procession around the city on Saturday, with the weekend also seeing a Bring Back Great Knits Exhibition at Bradford Cathedral, featuring live spinning demonstrations.

A Bring Back St Blaise Wool Day was also held at the Bradford Industrial Museum, featuring working wool machinery and a pop-up bar with a specially-brewed St Blaise Armenian Ale by Salamander Brewery.

Mr Watkins, who plans to repeat the festival on an annual basis, said: "It's gone better than I ever could have dreamt of. 

"We had big ambitions, but we've realised them. 

"There were hundreds of visitors to the Cathedral and the Industrial Museum, and it was just great to see Bradford folk doing things in Bradford. 

"The whole weekend has been absolutely brilliant."