conkers

In  Hinterland previously we have featured such key rural sports as cheese rolling and the Haxey Hood. Now in the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness we bring you conkers! This article tells us:

They came from France, Latvia… even Venezuela. The finest conker swingers on Earth descended on a pub in Northamptonshire yesterday for the World Conker Championships – but were vanquished by an Englishman from round the corner in Kettering.

Simon Cullum overcame driving rain and contenders from 15 countries to be declared Conker King at the Shuckburgh Arms, in Southwick. “We usually just come here for the real ale, but this year we had to take it a bit more seriously,” he said.

In the final Mr Cullum defeated another local man – Dave “The Pig” Bloomfield – whose concentration was perhaps impaired by the fear that press coverage of his unexpected progress could alert his boss to the sickie he had thrown to enter. The home victory – in the face of hotly tipped challengers from France and Germany – represented a huge boost for the UK conker fraternity, after the last two championships were called off because of bad weather. According to conker lore, the event was first organised by a group of men in the village of Ashton, near Oundle, when bad weather forced them to abandon a fishing trip in 1965.