By Jonathan White & Claire Faulkner
Hundreds descended on Willaston to take part in the 33rd World Worm Charming Championships.
More than 140 plots witnessed frantic activity for 30 minutes as teams tried to vibrate as many worms out of the ground as possible.
The championships included representatives from the Philippines, Thailand, Australia and Holland.
The youngest wormer award was won by four-week-old Evie May Benbow – the granddaughter of event organiser Mike Forster.
The heaviest worm trophy was won by Carol Owen at 5.62g.
And the Championship trophy for Most Worms was won by the ‘Caravan Club’ tag team with 419 worms.
The team was made up of members from Northwich and Ashton-in-Makerfield.
Organiser Mike Forster was given an honorary Scouting neckerchief by the 26th Willaston Scouts for his long-standing support of the championships.
The most visible entry was Jonathan Perkins from Wales, who was in Nantwich with four friends Paul Hallam, David Lamper, Chris Brooks, and Tim Stock on a stag weekend.
Jonathan wore a ‘Zippy’ costume from the children’s television programme Rainbow.
Claire Faulkner was part of a team from Crewe and Nantwich community radio station The Cat.
She said: “Nothing can prepare you for the noise. Hundreds of people shouting support, making music, knocking and twanging into the ground in an attempt to charm the wrigglers out of the ground.
“The atmosphere was fantastic. People of all ages trying whatever they could think of to win, you would be amazed at how competitive a group of people can be, even over worms.
“Ten minutes in and our team wasn’t doing so well, we could see other plots measuring 3 x 3 metres just as ours was, producing hundreds of worms.
“Then it happens, you get your first worm and your off, the rest of the team shouting support as you place the worm into the specially provided pot.
“Worms then seem to be coming out of the ground everywhere and you can’t catch them quick enough.
“The popularity of the sport has grown, teams from all over the UK apply to take part and this year there were teams from as far as Australia and India.”
Willaston School Percussion Band on the playground and the Cheshire Academy of Rhythmic Gymnastics in the arena on the school field.
The arena and adjacent areas were surrounded by charity stalls and food and drink outlets.
(Pics by Jonathan White)
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