Cannon ball throwing at Blists Hill Community Games (Photo by Andy Cunningham)
When: 28th – 29th July 2012
Where: Blists Hill Victorian Town, near Ironbridge, Shropshire
£: Open 10am to 5pm Blists Hill is one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums. An annual Passport Ticket allowing entry into all ten museums, costs: Adults 23.25, the sixty plus 18.75, students & children 15.25 and family ticket 64; under 5s go free. Activities and workshops vary day-to-day and some carry an extra charge in addition to the museum admission fee. Individual museum entry tickets are also available.
What is it?
For the first weekend of the London 2012 Games, Blists Hill Victorian Town, near Ironbridge will stage its own Community Games on The Green.
On Saturday 28th July families can have a go at a range of quirky challenges such as leek flinging and cabbage hurling, while on Sunday the townsfolk will be staging their own traditional Victorian sports and games. This will be your chance to watch and cheer on competitors as they take part in such unusual events as catch the slippery pig and cannon ball throwing presided over by Martin Wood, the world’s tallest Town Crier.
The Community Games weekend is one of several events within the Ironbridge Gorge Museum’s exciting multi-site Science, Sport, Life Festival, which is part of the official London 2012 Cultural Olympiad in the West Midlands.
Catch the Slippery Pig dates back to Victorian times when locals taking part in the Wenlock Games used to try to catch a live slippery pig as it ran around the town. Today this is interpreted by attaching an inflatable life buoy to a bungee rope; competitors put the buoy under their arm and have to walk backwards as far as possible until the bungee rope pulls the buoy away – much harder than it sounds!
More info: Contact the Ironbridge Visitor Information Centre by phone on 01952 433 424 or visit www.ironbridge.org.uk. The Gorge is easily reached via the M6 and M54 motorways exiting at Telford (M54 junction 4 or 6).