On Sunday visitors and locals alike enjoyed wonderful autumnal weather in Ellesmere whilst being entertained by a remarkable sight.

Fizzgigs, the community arts group, had invited visitors to the recreation field on Birch Road to witness their now defunct pumpkins being hurled into the air by a trebuchet, a reproduction medieval siege engine. This was the seventh outing for Fizzgigs’ trebuchet.

Built by Fizzgigs mastermind Peter Cartlidge, the cunning machine flung over sixty pumpkins through the skies to many oohs and aahs from a sizeable crowd, largely made up of families, some from Chester and Oswestry as well as more locally.   In the Middle Ages such items of war were used to catapult boulders and burning pitch over high castle battlements. This year the targets were a pair of herons which had been part of Fizzgigs’ Carnival parade entry.

For the second year, folks were asked to guess the distance their pumpkins would travel. The targets were then moved to that mark. Any achieving a hit were promised a reward. Last year was the first time a target was reached, by the pumpkin of a young lad from Cockshutt. And this year another young person from Cockshutt won a prize!

Felicity Johnson (aged 4) came with her entry called Tilly, and was delighted to receive a box of chocolates. Her siblings (Walter and Penny) were not so lucky.

Some pumpkins reached over 60 metres, though the lifetime record still stands at an impressive 100 metres. Oliver (aged 5) from Ellesmere was disappointed his pumpkin called Starry did not ‘go all the way to those houses over there’. The most imaginatively named pumpkin was ‘Donald Trumpkin’ which, like the American president, promised a lot but only achieved just short of 31 metres.

Once again, the afternoon was ably presided over by Ian Andrew (Chair of Fizzgigs) on the microphone. He was able to explain how the trebuchet worked. The amount of ballast in the bucket needed adjusting at various points, but was typically over 35 kilos each time. The whole machine rocked on its wooden wheels from time to time, and fine-tuning came courtesy of sledge-hammering retaining stakes beneath its wheels. Hard work for the young men who volunteered to do the hard work.

As Ian said, ‘It’s just something else to make the town we live in a bit more interesting.’

Details of all Fizzgigs activities can be found at www.fizzgigs.co.uk

Tilly Johnson receiving her prize from Fizzgigs’ member, Ro Drake.

Family Katie, Tim and Sophia with pumpkin Max.

Family Florence, Alan, and Arthur with Bob.