Frankie Hooper, from London, emerged as the winner from a field of 256 contestants. Truly surprised, she said, “I’ve not played conkers before, and certainly never entered a competition. This is so amazing.”
The competitions took place on Sunday 11 October, in Southwick, near Peterborough, in Northamptonshire.
In addition to the 256 contestants mentioned above, there also were around 100 junior contestants. Contestants came not only from the UK, but also from ten other countries. It is estimated the number of spectators was 2,000.
Conkers are called chestnuts or horse chestnuts in America and other places outside of the UK. The game of conkers is explained on Wikipedia.
You can read more about the event, see a historical list of the winners starting in 1965 in each of the five categories of competitions, read about how the game is played and the rules competetors must follow, and see many photos on the event’s website.
Here are some of the photos:
The competitions:
Playing field — six platforms
View from playing field towards control tower
[job title and name of this gentleman?]
Guest appearance: Mark Pougatch (ITV football presenter) and Penny Mordaunt (MP)
Conkers, conkers everuwhere
blanket of conkers
kids playing
buildigs
toss into buckets
Other things going on
tight rope
stils
Morris Dancers
food t ru cks
burgers
pulled porrt
pizza
paala
ice cream
