Sunday afternoon was the sixth outing for Fizzgigs’ trebuchet, a life-size replica of a medieval siege engine.
The community arts group had invited visitors to the recreation field on Birch Road to give their Halloween lanterns a last moment of pleasure.
The trebuchet, built by Fizzgigs mastermind Peter Cartlidge, flung over seventy pumpkins through the skies to many oohs and aahs from a sizeable crowd. 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 fairies called the Damson Twins, which had been part of Fizzgigs’ summer Plantation Trail.
An innovation this year was to ask each entrant to the competition to guess the distance their jack o’lantern would travel. The targets were then moved to that mark. Any achieving a hit were promised a reward. ‘We’ve never managed to hit a target yet, in five years,’ commented Peter. ‘And we’ve had some sizeable targets, too. Giant spiders and dragons, for example.’
Thomas Davies, aged six from Cockshutt, was therefore very excited when his pumpkin, also called Thomas, did knock down one of the fairy twins. He will be receiving a prize, from The Crafty Spider in Ellesmere. ‘He’s even more excited to think his photo might be in the paper!’ joked his dad.
Thomas was the only pumpkin to reach the target. Some did attain significant distances, though the lifetime record still stands at an impressive 100 metres. Many pumpkins made a very satisfying thudding sound as they thumped to earth a mere 20 or so metres away in a squishy mess!
A particularly impressive pumpkin arrived from Oswestry Library, brought by Rosie, a librarian there, and her children Evie and George. Their main pumpkin was called Libby The Librarian, and had big googley eyes and glasses. No stereotypes, then!
Other visitors came from as far away as Shrewsbury. Despite the overcast weather, families were determined to make the most of the afternoon’s free entertainment. The Jackson family from Ellesmere brought a picnic, including seasonal toffee apples.
The afternoon was presided over by Ian Andrew on the microphone. He was able to explain why Fizzgigs had had to engage the services of several very strong, large and fit young men. ‘Pulling back the trebuchet is very hard work. These guys were at it for over two hours. They certainly worked for their beers from the White Hart at the end of the session!’ The amount of ballast in the bucket had to be adjusted according to the weight of each pumpkin. 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.
Fizzgig members and the local cubs collected all pumpkin flesh from the field and it taken for composting.
Details of all Fizzgigs activities can be found at www.fizzgigs.co.uk
Thomas Davies, the winner.
Grayson and Chantal with Scorpian.
Evie and Rosie with Billy, Chickadee and Libby the Librarian.
