| Where: | Windlesham, Surrey at Linde Group Headquarters, Chertsey Road |
| When: | 26th December |
| Time: | 10.15 am |
The Windlesham Pram Race is held each Boxing Day over a 3-mile course and has been an annual event for over 40 years – few similar events have as long a pedigree as this! It’s a charity fundraiser open to all and there are prizes for speed, costume and the best-pimped perambulator (which often just uses a pram chassis and is transformed into quite a different vehicle altogether). Expect a fun atmosphere and plenty of drinking as competitors in teams of up to 8 members must down a swift half at set points en route. The finish is at the Windlesham Club & Theatre on Kennel Lane and the prizes are awarded here.
Helpful Hints
Teams wishing to enter should register in advance (see website for details).
Click here for the event website : http://www.pramrace.com/
Photo by Euan Semple.
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I live about three miles from Windlesham, but I’ve never been to the Pram Race before. But this year I was there. I never realised what a big parade it is. The route is three and a half miles long, and the roads were closed for four hours.
“Race” is a bit misleading; it gives the impressions of prams, nose-to-nose, jostling outside the Sun. In fact the entries are judges by originality, etc, rather than first past the post, so the pace is relaxed. Very relaxed; it looks as if each pram stops at each pub and the off-licence. Maybe they needed to. If you are processing through the streets of Surrey in late December, clad only in gold paint and some old underpants, I suspect you need something to keep you warm.
“Pram” is interpreted widely too. There was the occasional pram chassis, plus a few supermarket trolleys, and I saw some industrial cage bases wheeling past, heavily disguised. They ranged from fairly simple entries to an Egyptian pyramid, complete with Egyptian dancers, or to a vast Star Wars spacecraft, accompanied by Darth Vader and a host of storm troopers.
It was all good fun, and the place was heaving with people. To judge by the number of collecting buckets, and the fact that there were stops en route where entrants could exchange their buckets for an emptier, lighter one, I’d imagine it must make a lot of money for local charities. It’s very good fun. I plan to be there again next year…
I went again this year. Still a busy and cheerful event, but I noticed that the prams were less ornate than they had been before the pandemic.
Hi Paula,
I’m pleased to hear it’s still going- a few things have fallen by the wayside post-covid. Happy New Year to you!
Averil