The Ham and Egger Files: Yattendon

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Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Fun and Games at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete

Competing in a Christmas Tree Throwing Competition & other games at a Summer Fete in West Berkshire!

Ahead of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee extended Bank Holiday weekend I had a look online to see what events would be taking place in and around the Abingdon-on-Thames area as we’d be down that way for the Bun Throwing in Abingdon.

One of my searches found that the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete in nearby West Berkshire would be taking place on Monday 4th June and amongst the entertainment, fun and games on offer would be Crazy Golf. Amongst this and the other traditional English fete attractions such as tombolas, raffle, coconut shy and a number of stalls the news item in the Newbury Weekly News said that the fete would also be hosting a Christmas Tree Throwing Competition!?

After a few wrong turns we eventually found the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete and saw that it took over the whole of the village. Scanning the Programme of Events for the afternoon we saw that we were still in time for plenty of activities including the Welly Wanging and a chance to watch a Guinness World Record Attempt for the “Largest Synchronized Morris Dance”! We also read that the fete has been running for over 220 years!

The Kennet Morris Men at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete

We also spotted signs directing people to the Aunt Sally game, although this was found to be a Crockery Shy, rather than the game I know as Aunt Sally that is very popular in my home town of Abingdon and involves knocking a ball off of a metal spike with wooden sticks!?

Aunt Sally poster at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete

Emily plays "Aunt Sally"

The first thing to do was find the Crazy Golf course that was meant to be there. Unfortunately there wasn't one at the fete, so we wouldn't be adding another played Miniature Golf course to our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list.

While looking for the Crazy Golf course we found the the Christmas Tree Throwing Competition area, which was gathering quite a crowd.

Quite a crowd for the Christmas Tree Throwing Contest

The rules of the competition were quite simple, it was £1 per go and the person who threw the furthest in their category would win. By the time I had a go there were markers out for the best man, woman, boy and girl and somehow someone had managed to lob a Christmas Tree a fair distance and we'd guesstimate it was about 12 metres.

The Christmas Tree Throwing Competition Playing Field at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete

In total I had three goes and on each occasion I beat the distance of the first marker (best girl’s distance), but only just!

Launching a Nordman Fir in the Christmas Tree Throwing Competition at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete

The agony of the third throw in the Christmas Tree Throwing Competition at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete

A great new sport, although quite bizarre to play during summer!? From what I can tell, the village of Yattendon has become very well known for Christmas Trees and the Yattendon Estate is one of the largest producers of Christmas Trees in the country.

Richard and a Christmas Tree

In the other 'throwing a green thing up a field event' Emily got fairly close to the women’s best position in the Welly Wanging contest with her two throws. I once again beat the marker, but was a fair way off the men’s best.

Emily Welly Wanging

There was also an Egg Throwing arena, but seeing how messy the competitors were getting we gave this a miss, although it does make a great spectator sport. Posters for the event also called the game "Chucky Egg".

The Egg Throwing Arena at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete

At 3.30pm the Kennet Morris Men congregated in the village square for their attempt at setting the record for the “Largest Synchronized Morris Dance”. We’re not sure whether they managed the feat and we wondered how many other sites were hosting Morris Dances as part of the record bid.

The Guinness World Record Attempt for the “Largest Synchronized Morris Dance”!

Before we left we sampled some local cider from the wonderfully named Tutts Clump Cider. On the drive to the fete we’d seen the name Tutts Clump on the map too and found the name amusing. We chose to buy four bottles of three varieties of cider on offer, one of which was a special edition produced for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.