World Pea Shooting Championships 2012

When: 14th July 2012 from 12pm (competition begins at 1pm)

Where: Witcham village, Cambridgeshire

£: Adults 2 , juniors 1 (enter on the day)

What is it?

The 14th July 2012 at Witcham sees the 42nd holding of the World Pea Shooting Championship & Village Fair on the Green.

The championship brings challengers from as far as the USA, Scandinavia, France, Spain, New Zealand and Holland to compete for the World Pea Shooting trophy.  Accuracy, not distance, is the aim of this competition, with contestants shooting a pea through a 12-inch tube towards a 12-inch target.  The competition is said to be fierce and laser-guided shooters for specialists are not uncommon, taking pea shooting into the 21st Century.  For the first-timers, Pea shooters and peas can be bought at the event, so no excuse not to take part.

Since 1971 the World Peashooting Championship has been held at Witcham. Witcham is a small village and the original championship was staged to raise funds for the Village Hall.  Like all good stories, the ‘Peashoot’ has a curious and amusing origin. The village schoolmaster, Mr Tyson, caught some mischievous pupils amusing themselves by pinging their unfortunate schoolmates with peas and he confiscated the offending weapons.  At the time the village had identified a need for a village hall and they were seeking ways to raise funds, Mr Tyson came up with the idea of a World Peashooting Championship.  The idea was an instant success and was central to each year’s fund-raising activities.

The championships are a great fun day out for all the family and as well as the fun of the pea shooting there are also novelty games, face painting, cake & bottle stalls, bric-a-brac, books, plants, ice cream, a lunch-time barbecue, cream teas served in the hall and a licensed bar.

More info: www.witcham.org.uk