|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
 Head To Head The Modern Antiquarian Cornwall Forum | Start a topic | Search |
17 messages | Select a forum: |
| From a recent Newcastle Evening Chronicle: REMEMBER WHEN Villagers determined to play ball A SECRET group got together to preserve a 900-year-old tradition in defiance of the law in February 1976. Villagers in Sedgefield, midway between Teesside and Durham, were planning to hold their traditional Shrove Tuesday ball game, in spite of warnings from the police. The game, which is said to have been played before the Norman Conquest in 1066, involved a robust chase through the streets of the quiet village between two goals several miles apart, starting and finishing at a bullring on the village green. Two years before, the tradition seemed doomed when 600 people turned up for the game and caused more than £300 of damage. The police decided that under the 1959 Highways Act, the game was illegal. In spite of the ruling, these few hardy folk were trying to keep the tradition alive. (The accompanying photo, in the paper, shows a lady stitching a round leather ball about the size of a grapefruit.And this was typed while listening to Stink singing John Dowland). Reply | with quote |  9th October 2006ce 13:45 In reply to: Another tradition under threat (Pete G) |
Messages in this topic: |
|