World Conker Championships held in Southwick near Oundle

Competitors conkered an annual event.

The World Conker Championships took place for the 55th time in Southwick near Oundle.

About 2,000 guests attended the event, which is held annually on the second Sunday of October.

St John Burkett, a member of the organising committee, said: “The event went much better than we expected.

“We had a problem setting up as a lot of people came down with covid. We thought we could throw away all the distance signs but it turned out we needed them.”

Spots to compete were fully booked in the run up to the event with hundreds of people taking part in both the children and adult competitions.

This year, Fee Aylemore claimed the women’s title after 30 years of trying for victory while Randy Topolnitsky, from Calgary in Canada, became men’s champion.

The official rules for the World Conker Championship state that you are not allowed to use your own conkers, instead having to draw one from a bag.

These conkers are supplied by the Ashton Conker Club and have fallen naturally.

Each contestant takes three alternate strikes at the other player’s conker and if neither has cracked after five minutes, a knock out round commences with each player taking nine more strikes.

“It’s a traditional and lovely event which people really enjoy taking part in, and it’s a sport which isn’t taken too seriously,” said St John.

There were also activities for everyone to enjoy on the day including stalls, games and food.

The event helps raise money for charities which support people who are visually impaired and this tradition has continued since the first conker championships in 1965 when a group of friends couldn’t go on a fishing trip due to the weather.

They decided to play conkers instead and the winner received a small sum of money to help his visually impaired relative.