The world pea shooting championships at Witcham that would have celebrated their 50th anniversary this year have been cancelled.

Organisers say the risks of Covid remain with competitors and referees “vulnerable to spittle being projected in their direction”

Witcham Village Hall committee organise the event and say they would “very much” liked to have celebrated the 50th anniversary this year.

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“However, the decision has been taken to postpone the event in 2022,” it said.

“This decision has not been taken lightly.”

Their statement said: “Pea shooting involves putting peas into the mouth and then blowing the peas down a cylinder.

“The pea is then projected towards a target where it lodges into a puttied target to receive a score.

“Competitors and referees have to be in close proximity to the target and are vulnerable to spittle being projected in their direction.

“Referees felt at risk and so the committee made the decision to wait another 12 months to reduce any risk of spreading Covid amongst, referees, competitors and also spectators.”

The committee says they also took into consideration:

the cost of buying PPE equipment and plastic divides for each target

the storage and sanitisation of equipment needed to set up an arena

limited to prepare and attract a wide range of people

people were concerned that sometimes peashooters are shared and peas are randomly fired out of shooters around the grounds

The pea shooting championships were established to raise funds for Witcham Village Hall to help support the needs of the local community.


The committee says it is sorry if pea shooting enthusiasts are disappointed about the decision to cancel the event this year.

They plan to hold the event again in the future and “the committee is in full support of celebrating 50 great years of pea shooting.”

Since 1971 the World Pea Shooting Championship has been held at Witcham to raise money for the village hall.

Visitors have come from, the USA, Scandinavia, France, Spain, New Zealand and Holland to compete.

For three years the Open Champion was teenager David Hollis of Witcham taking his last title by beating his father George, himself a former champion.

The championships were held until the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.