Let's hear it for egg throwing and welly wanging events

“When you catch the egg you need to gently cup with your fingers and draw the egg in, while slowly pulling your arms back at the same time.”

That advice was given to me by my dad who, with my mum, were pretty good at the activity.

“Always throw underarm, in a soft loop,” he would say.

Dad and Mum were always among the final two or three pairs left, from a starting field of at least 20, in the egg throwing contest held at the annual carnival in the North Yorkshire village where I grew up.

A popular activity, young and old would enter, lining up side by side on the cricket field. It was always held at the end of the day - the reason for that being clear when you saw how many eggs met a sticky end on the grass.

Egg throwing is among the wacky and wonderful goings-on that take place at such events across Britain. They are part of what makes our island and life thereon, what it is.

Welly throwing, aka welly wanging, is another popular fete activity. There’s no tried-and-tested technique for that - some fling the boot as it is, some roll it up first, some chuck it overarm, others hurl it from the side. In my experience, it’s not a level playing field - wellies of all shapes and sizes are normally dished out for throwing, but heavier wellies definitely fly further.

I was inspired to write about these quirky events after reading about a man who gave up a career as a lawyer to dedicate his life to taking part in bizarre competitions, one being gravy wrestling.

Joel Hicks, aka Gandalf the Gravy, from Leicester, fell in love with wacky events nearly 20 years ago, prompting him to start his own charity Always With a Smile, in 2006. He raises money for local charities by taking part in quirky events and competitions.

Joel specialises in gravy wrestling, holding six world records for sloshing around in thousands of gallons of the stuff.

Not sure I’d want ‘wrestling in gravy’ heading up my CV, but it’s for charity so good on him.

I’ll stick to using Bisto on my Yorkshire pudds rather than my body, but I like the typically British, typically bonkers idea of it.

Welly wanging is another popular activity at local events

Joel has also won gold in the Clog Cobbing World Championships, where competitors throw large wooden shoes, or clogs, as far as they can down a path. The championships are held annually at the Roebuck Inn pub in Waterfoot, Lancashire.

He is also a five-time winner of the Bird Man, a competition which sees competitors throwing themselves off a cliff while attached to a homemade flying machine.

Such events add to the rich fabric of life across the country.

I’d love to see the world-famous Gloucestershire’s annual Cheese Rolling event. The hilarious race attracts thousands of spectators and brave competitors from all over the world to Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth. It’s no mean feat, people end up tumbling down the slope after their cheeses. It spells a busy afternoon for the local A&E department.

On our doorstep, in Oxenhope, hundreds of people turn out for an annual event which sees pairs of competitors carry bales of straw through the village.

The 2.5 mile (4km) race started in the mid-1970s when two farmers made a bet about racing between pubs with a bale. I’ve seen it for myself and it’s quite a sight.

And bed racing in Knaresborough - what larks, Pip.

Long may these activities - which hark back to a bygone age - survive to entertain us.