The Villagly Awards
Every so often a village event is so gloriously itself that it earns a rosette. The soggiest, the fieriest, the hardest to reach, the strangest talent in the land. These are our hand-picked superlatives, awarded with great seriousness and no authority whatsoever.
Bravest Shins in the UK
World Shin-Kicking Championships
Competitors grip each other's collars and kick shins until one falls, straw padding optional. Part of the Cotswold Olimpicks.
Dover's Hill, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England
Strangest Talent in the UK
World Worm Charming Championships
Charm the most worms from a patch of turf in half an hour using vibration alone, no digging, no water.
Willaston, Cheshire, England
Slowest Race in the UK
World Snail Racing Championships
A field of garden snails creeps from the centre of a circle to the edge. The record stands at two minutes.
Congham, Norfolk, England
Soggiest in the UK
Bog Snorkelling Championship
Two lengths of a cold Welsh peat bog in mask and flippers, no recognised swimming stroke permitted.
Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, Wales
Messiest in the UK
World Gravy Wrestling Championships
Two minutes of grappling in a pool of cold Lancashire gravy, scored on grip, technique and crowd entertainment.
Stacksteads, Lancashire, England
Oldest Dance in the UK
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
Reindeer antlers carried in a dance traced back to the Middle Ages, one of the longest surviving folk rituals in the country.
Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, England
Hardest to Reach
Ceol Cholasa: Colonsay Folk Festival
A folk festival on a Hebridean island of barely 120 people, reached by a two-hour ferry. Worth every minute.
Colonsay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Best Gurn in the UK
Egremont Crab Fair and World Gurning Championships
Home of the World Gurning Championships, where pulling the most grotesque face through a horse collar is a point of village pride.
Egremont, Cumbria, England
Toughest Nut in the UK
World Conker Championships
A horse chestnut on a string, an opponent, and a swing. The last conker standing takes the title.
Southwick, Northamptonshire, England
Fieriest Night in the UK
Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels
Villagers carry flaming barrels of tar on their shoulders through packed streets after dark. Centuries old, gloriously unsafe.
Ottery St Mary, Devon, England
10 awards and counting. Think your event deserves a rosette? Tell us about it.