Washfield crowned champions at Inter Village It's a Knockout

WASHFIELD have been crowned as the second winners of the Inter

Village It’s a Knockout champions.

The competition on Saturday 21 August was hosted by last

year’s winners Calverleigh on the village green pitted their village against

Washfield, Templeton and Stoodleigh.

Each village had a team of ten and competed in events such

as throwing bean bags into rings, jousting with balloons filled with water, a

slippery slope, finding letters in sawdust, and trying to knock opponents off a

greasy pole into water.

Washfield team captain Michael Welch was delighted with his team:

“It is a victory for the great village

of Washfield. Every

member of the Washfield community will be happy, as we look forward to hosting

this event next year.

“The secret to our success is to have a lot of fun while

being even more competitive. Since last year when Calverleigh beat us we have

had intensive training, and because we have a similar team to last year, we

knew our strengths and weaknesses.”

He added that the team could do very well at the London 2012

Olmpics if events such as bashing people off a pole with a wet pillow are

included.

The host village’s team came second by only one point. Donna

Hustle of Calverleigh said: “It’s gutting because I think they cheated. We are

not sore losers but we played fairly and technically we won.

“Despite this, we are not going to take anything away from

the team that came out top.”

Organisers had been working hard in the last few weeks to

come up with the games, and to make sure they kept within health and safety

guidelines.

Anthony Clark who helped organise the event said: “We were

delighted to be able to host the event here today and create something special

for the villages to enjoy.

“The team or organisers had to think of something creative,

challenging and safe, and I think we’ve achieved all our goals.

“We are delighted to hand over the baton to Washfield where

the event will take place again next year for the third year.”

The setting of the games took place overlooking St Mary's

church on the village green. Church warden Aubrey Goldsworth added: “This

little spot is really beautiful and not a lot of people know is here. It’s

really good to keep events like this and others in the village alive.”