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Participants take part in the annual cheese rolling at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire (Ben Birchall/PA)
PA Archive/PA Images - Ben Birchall
In the face of wars and worrying headlines, the wild, wacky and often just plain wonderful spirit of Britons continued to shine through over 2025.
Here is a selection of images from some of the more unusual occasions that took place throughout the country this year.
The Jarl Squad take part in the torch procession through Lerwick on the Shetland Isles during the Up Helly Aa festival. Originating in the 1880s, the festival celebrates Shetland’s Norse heritage (Jane Barlow/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Jane Barlow
May also saw daring participants take part in the annual cheese rolling at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire (Ben Birchall/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Ben Birchall
The women’s race at Cooper’s Hill (Ben Birchall/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Ben Birchall
Members of the Pentacle Drummers perform in front of a burning wicker man depicting a Roman Gladiator Retiarius, celebrating Beltain and the Roman festival of Floralia, during the Beltain Celtic Fire Festival in Hampshire (Andrew Matthews/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Andrew Matthews
The fire festival took place at Butser Ancient Farm, near Waterlooville in May (Andrew Matthews/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Andrew Matthews
In July a mural of former England football manager Sam Allardyce appeared in Union Street in town centre of his home town of Dudley in the West Midlands (Matthew Cooper/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Matthew Cooper
August saw two teams make a splash when they took part in the annual Football In The River match in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire (Ben Birchall/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Ben Birchall
Seven dachshunds took to Chester Racecourse in September hoping to be named top dog in its first ever Dachshund Derby. Here is winner Nellie after crossing the finish line (Anthony Devlin/PA)
The traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator’s Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife is always a messy display (Jane Barlow/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jane Barlow
The foam fight is the culmination of a weekend of festivities where first years say thank you to their more senior student ‘parents’ for mentoring them (Jane Barlow/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jane Barlow
Cake artist Emma Jayne’s life-size replica of Michael Jackson was a real Thriller at the Cake International show at the NEC in Birmingham in October, just in time for Halloween (Jacob King/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jacob King
What a guy! A giant effigy of Sir Keir Starmer was revealed for the Kent town of Edenbridge’s Bonfire Night celebrations (Gareth Fuller/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Gareth Fuller
Members of the King’s Foundation Sewing Bee group took on the task of turning the curtains from Sandringham House in Norfolk into 25 stockings ahead of Christmas. The old curtains from the royal residence were recycled into festive stockings for a charity auction (Andrew Milligan/PA)
A dog takes part during the Rescue Dogs of London and Friends Christmas Jumper Parade, in central London (Jeff Moore/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jeff Moore
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