World Pea Shooting Champions In Witcham On Saturday

EAGER competitors from across the globe will be descending on Witcham this weekend for the return of the World Peashooting Championships. Now in its 39th year, the quirky competition is the highlight of the annual village fair and regularly draws particip

EAGER competitors from across the globe will be descending on Witcham this weekend for the return of the World Peashooting Championships.

Now in its 39th year, the quirky competition is the highlight of the annual village fair and regularly draws participants from as far afield as the USA, Spain and New Zealand.

Mr George Hollis is the incumbent world champion and dozens of competitors will be fine tuning their shooters on Saturday in a bid to wrestle the title from him and earn their place on the John Tyson Shield.

Witcham has been the spiritual home of the championships since 1971 when village schoolmaster John Tyson was inspired to set them up to try and raise funds for the village hall.

Mr Tyson got the idea for the championships from a group of his mischievous pupils, who he caught firing peas at their fellow students during school-time.

The championships have been running ever since and have drawn interest from across the globe, with the competition regularly appearing in the news and on television.

This year organisers will be running competitions for ladies, children and teams alongside the all important open category which is open to everybody. Contestants are advised to register at midday on Saturday, entry is �2.

INFO: email: peashoot@witcham.org.uk.