Hundreds battle it out in World Worm Charming Championships

Scores of teams battled it out at the 36th World Worm Charming Championships in Willaston, near Nantwich, writes Jonathan White.

The championships saw participants in each of the 144 plots battling for 30 minutes to collect as many worms as possible from a 3×3 metre piece of land.

There were ‘traditional’ plots for teams of two and ‘tag-team’ plots for teams who wished to change their pairings throughout the charming period.

Techniques included vibrating a garden fork, whacking a tennis racquet and jumping up and down.

The Chief Wormer’s Trophy is usually given to the youngest wormer.

However, this year it was given to Pam, Pat and Anne-Marie – who have a combined age of 216 – for the effort they put into their charming in collecting 11 worms from plot 7.

Most Promising Newcomer Award with 137 worms in plot 108 was won by the Smith and Williams families.

The Heaviest Worm Award was won by Alana Healy in plot 42 with 4.23g.

The Championship trophy for Most Worms was won by The Caravan Club tag-team containing the Low, Tricketts, Bell and Shaw families in plot 14 with 227 worms.

A tag-team from The Caravan Club also won in 2012.

The championships also included representatives from Holland, Switzerland, Hong Kong and India.

Event organiser Mike Forster gave his sincere thanks to all the volunteers and visitors for their continued support of the event.

Events in the playground and arena included a performance by the Willaston School Percussion band, dancing by the X Academy of Performing Arts, the Willaston Scouts Ninja Poi Display Team, and singing by the Willaston Primary School Junior Choir.

The arena and nearby areas were surrounded by charity stalls, an inflatable slide and food and drink outlets.

(Words and pictures by Jonathan White)