The Ludlow Catching Acorns and Conkers Festival – 40 Humourous British Traditions

The biggest scandal, even surpassing the Jackson affair, was the Biggs Jackdaw Scandal of 1891. Thomas Biggs thought that he could win by training his pet jackdaw, Reuben, to jump around in the tree above his head and so either loosen the tree fruit or throw them to Biggs when he was on his own under the tree. This worked for the first three days until a judge saw the jackdaw throw a conker to Biggs as he leaned against the trunk of the tree. Both Biggs and Reuben were forbidden to take part in the festival for the rest of recorded time. Biggs never recovered from the ignominy of his ban and died in solitude in Gloucester in 1912. However, Reuben made a living by starring in his own dart throwing show at local fairs.

The Acorn and Conker catching contest has an interesting rule whereby if no acorn or conker has fallen for an hour then the chief counting judge shouts “release the squirrels”. The Squirrel Containment Officer then releases five squirrels into the tree. The idea is that the activity of the squirrels ensures that some tree fruit are disturbed and fall towards the ground. These squirrels are kept in a cage during the contest and released back into the wild once it’s over.

There have been some accidents largely when people charge into each other when trying to catch the same tree fruit. Others have suffered eye injuries when misjudging the velocity of a falling conker, especially from the Cripple Horse Chestnut which is over 200 feet high. As recently as 2007, a competitor had to be rushed to hospital after swallowing a conker that had deflected from another contestant’s head. This is why the Health and Safety Executive encourages participants to wear facial masks at all times as well as knee and elbow pads.

Roger Silas best summed up the spirit of the festival when he said “Ye conteste had made me loiffe compleeet and Oive started many friendships under them trres, which have lasted a loifetime.”