| 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 2024 it was on Saturday 22nd June- 2025 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
FYI – Worm Charming in Willaston this year is on Saturday 23rd June 2012.
Hi Janet,
Thanks for the update -I’ve amended my article accordingly! I thought it was always the last Saturday of the month but sometimes dates like this vary a little, or can be the 4th Saturday which is also sometimes the last but not invariably…if there’s a hard and fast formula please let me know as for now I’ve put that it’s a Saturday late in the month, which covers all eventualities. Ta!
Best wishes,
Averil
Looking for details of upcoming events
The Worm Charming is only once a year in late June, and the date is usually confirmed in spring a few weeks in advance. The only other large similar event that I know of is at Blackawton in Devon in May. Other events at Willaston don’t appear on calendarcustoms, just the Worm Charming, so you’d need a local contact for those. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Hi I hope to contend this year and have left June 23 open
However confirmation would be helpful
Regards
Dick Hazelwood
PS Provision plan involves grandchildren as spotters/collectors, whilst I wield my charmer.
Hi Dick,
If you follow this link you’ll get to the current page for the event : http://www.willastonprimaryacademy.co.uk/worm-charming/
which has details for this year including the rules. It says that the application forms aren’t ready yet but will be available later so keep an eye on the page then you can get booked in!
Best wishes,
Averil
Hi Lee,
You can just turn up at the venue on the day to register, or you can register in advance with the organisers- follow the link to https://www.facebook.com/TheFriendsOfWillastonSchoolAssociation/?ref=page_internal who organise the event for more info and rules etc (we don’t have any connection with the running of it at calendarcustoms). Also please be aware that all comments on calendarcustoms.com are moderated by a single person (ie me) and sending multiple messages won’t make them appear any sooner on the site – they all have to be individually approved, so I’ve got rid of all the others! Hope you enjoy it,
Averil