Willaston World Worm Charming Championship

Where: Willaston, Cheshire at the Willaston County Primary School
When: Late Saturday in June
Time: 1pm

 

The World Worm Charming Championship is held on a Saturday late each June at Willaston Primary Academy in Cheshire and dates back to 1980. Where else would you get a group of people of all ages competing to extract the maximum number of worms out of a patch of soil? Three metre square plots are available from which to entice the creatures within the space of half an hour – the record is over 500 worms. Various techniques are used including vibrating the ground by sticking implements into it, playing or making music and  patting the soil; it’s against the rules to import worms in from outside and digging holes is not allowed. Once the allowed time expires, the numbered worm pots are returned to HQ for counting and prizes are awarded for the single heaviest specimen ( a silver worm trophy) as well as for the largest quantity (gold worm trophy) – all participating worms are released back into the wild afterwards. In a dry season the number of worms is significantly affected – many charmers failed to lure a single specimen into their pot in 2018 whereas the previous championship yielded record results of literally hundreds per plot. The event is organised by the Friends of Willaston School Association.

Helpful Hints

Plots may be booked in advance – they cost £5 each when we went (see website for details).

In 2023 it was on Saturday 24th June- 2024 date is yet to be announced.

Click here for the Friends: https://www.facebook.com/TheFriendsOfWillastonSchoolAssociation/?ref=page_internal

Click here for the event website: http://www.willastonprimaryacademy.co.uk/worm-charming/

and here for the School : http://www.willastonprimaryacademy.co.uk

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