Traditional pursuits in October – part 2

 

Traditional pursuits in October – part 2

All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

                                                    Conkers

The World Conker Championships are scheduled to take place in Southwick, Northamptonshire, today, Sunday 8^th October.

                                    Horse chestnut in spring

Conkers are the fruits of the horse chestnut tree, whose white or pink ‘candles’ of flowers are a wonderful sight in spring. The shiny brown nuts are enclosed in spiky green cases which split when the nuts are ripe. The cases are not as prickly as those of the sweet chestnut.

                                        The leaf-scar 'horse shoe'

Horse chestnuts are named so for two reasons. The first is that the nuts used to be fed to horses in the east to make their coats shine and as a stimulant. The second reason is that the leaf-scars on the twigs resemble a horseshoe complete with nail holes.

The horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) was introduced to Britain from Turkey in the late 1500s. It is usually to be found in gardens or parks, on streets and village greens but not often in woodland. It is a majestic deciduous tree, reaching 40 metres in height and living for around 300 years. 

There are no clear explanations for the nuts being called conkers. My theory, with no basis in history, fact or linguistics, is that it derives from ‘conquer’ because the winner of the game of conkers ‘conquers’ his or her opponent. 😉

                                            Threaded and ready to play! 

The game of conkers has long been a playground favourite but has been banned in many schools because it is considered dangerous. (How long will it be before pencils are banned?) The first game using conkers was recorded in 1848 on the Isle of Wight. To play it requires two players, each with a conker threaded onto string. Each takes it in turn to strike the other’s conker. The first player to shatter his or her opponent’s chestnut is the winner.

Such a game had existed before the use of conkers, using snail shells or hazelnuts (and putting paid to my theory!)

The World Conker Championships started in Ashton in Northamptonshire, in 1965 on the village green, which was surrounded by horse chestnut trees. In the local pub, where so many wonderful idea are hatched (remember bog snorkelling?) a group of men were trying in vain to organise a fishing trip. Someone suggested a game of conkers instead and the idea was adopted.

 The winner received a small prize and a charity collection was taken by someone who had a blind relation. From this, the annual competition grew and the money collected is given to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to support their Talking Books service for sight-impaired people. To date, the Championships have raised around £420,000 for the charity.

People come from across the world to take part in the championships and there are several, varied events, from individual to team, in different age and gender categories. Alongside the competitions there are the usual stalls and entertainments associated with people involved in competitive activities.

You can read more about it here.

 
Horse chestnut seedling