Final fling for Halloween pumpkins in a great family day
More than 40 pumpkins, a medieval siege engine and a team of enthusiastic flingers made the most of the remains of Halloween in an unusual community event in Ellesmere.
Over 100 visitors joined Ellemere’s community arts group Fizzgigs this weekend for the fourth annual Final Pumpkin Fling featuring an impressive home-made trebuchet – a giant catapult used in medieval times to demolish castle walls.
Visitors were asked to take their Halloween pumpkin lanterns to the Birch Road Recreation field on Sunday, give them a name and then see them flung into the skies in a competition to see whose pumpkin could travel the furthest.
Fizzgigs member Peter Cartlidge, who designed and made the trebuchet, said it was a day of hard work but great fun.
“Vital to the success of the trebuchet are about five hundred kilos of ballast and enough strong people to pull the contraption back into position for each fling.
“We were lucky to have two young strong men from Chorley who had heard about us and wanted to join in the fun,” he said.
One of these volunteer flingers, Adam Harvey, said: “Who wouldn’t want to throw stuff out of a trebuchet?”
Over 40 pumpkins of a range of weights and sizes were flung through the afternoon.
Esther Davis, aged five, who sported a witch’s hat, said. “Mine might not go the furthest because it’s huge,” she said.
The greatest distance achieved was by Warty McWart Face, contributed by Adam Harvey which travelled just under 80 metres. A variety of targets had been set up, including a large Jester and two medieval knights wielding a sword and a mace.
All pumpkin flesh and unflung Halloween lanterns were collected from the field and taken for composting. Details of all Fizzgigs activities can be found at www.fizzgigs.co.uk
