Post by Dave on Jul 4, 2015 7:08:30 GMT
Blackawton International Worm Charming 4th May 2014
I thought I saw a ghost
I thought I saw a ghost
I normally write reports on my days out when I get home from any event, but I didn’t on this day and for a good reason. The first thing I always do when I get home is get the photos from my camera and put them on my pc, Its rare I ever shoot any video, but I did on this day. It was when I viewed the one and only video clip I almost fell off my seat More of that latter.
I had been looking on line to find something new to do on the May Bank Holiday and leaned that the Blackawton International Worm Charming event was taking place. I decided not to tell Lyn where we were going, I could imagine what she would have said if I had of done. Sometimes you just have to go and do something you might not think you would enjoy; you never know you might just end up having a great day out.
All the way there Lyn kept asking but I was not telling, unfortunately as he turned off the main road towards the village, a very large sign gave the game away. I had to laugh when she said “we are going to watch worms getting charmed, are you being serious here”
To cut a long story short we both enjoyed our time at the Blackawton International Worm Charming event, it’s not something we would want to go and watch every year that’s for sure, but you never know we may find ourselves back there again one year.
Blackawton's Wormcharming heritage started back in 1983 when Dave Kelland and a mate of his had been imbibing ale in The Normandy Arms on a wet and miserable Sunday afternoon. On the way home, Dave needed to relieve himself and did so in a field and much to his surprise, worms started to come to surface. Having a fertile mind, Dave realised that there may some mileage in making his apparent ability to charm worms out of the ground a competitive event. The first proper event started in 1984 and has grown every year since then.
How does the competition work? Teams are given a one metre square plot and are allowed 5 minutes to ‘worm up’ before being given 15 minutes to get as many worms ‘charmed’ out of the ground as possible. Digging and forking is not permitted.
Each worm charming team is made up of three members; a Charmerer, a Pickerer and a Counterer. any competitors caught cheating get put in the stocks or publicly humiliated!
The worm charming officials are made up of the Worm Master who presides over the festival and the International Judge makes sure the rules are upheld. Then there is the Official Cheat who tempts entrants to cheat by offering them worms, and finally, Old Father Worm Charming who offers advice and guidance to the worm charmers.
As we got there early we walked around the whole village and ended up finding the secret field being used for this years worm charming. We when waited in the centre of the village for the parade to work its way from the top of the village to the secret field.
I don’t know why, but I pressed the video record button on my camera, not for very long, but long enough as it turned out. When I viewed that clip later at home, I thought I had just seen a ghost.
At the very start of the clip a lady holding a child’s hand steps out from the crowd, looks at me and then is gone again out of shot in a second. I nor Lyn saw this lady step out and never saw her at anytime during the whole afternoon we spent in Blackawton. I took over 200 shots on the day and this lady is in none of them, it’s only a small village and you would have thought I would have caught her again somewhere.
I have added the video clip to this report and a still taken from it, all the people who knew Carol that has seen it, just asked when it was taken. Over the last ten years of her life, Carol’s appearance changed many times due to all the treatment she was having.
Having spent some time viewing the still from the video I know it’s not Carol, but the very first time I saw it, I really though I had seen a ghost.
