GOOD to see the first sunny weekend of 2026 got off to a fine start in Worcestershire this week with a session of a traditional summer sport.
And, no, we are not talking cricket, croquet or tennis.
It was something far more important than those.
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For welly wanging is for everyone – the common man, woman or child.
No need to be physically enhanced or even particularly athletic.
Just grab hold of a Wellington boot and hurl it as far as you can.
As those at the Fox and Hounds pub at Lulsley, near Worcester, did on Easter Monday.
Roger King wangs at the Fox and Hounds on Easter Monday. With all that pent-up energy you just hope he remembered to let go of the welly. Could have ended up in Bromyard otherwise (Image: Newsquest)
Great fun for everyone and no special skill required.
Although possibly for reasons of space required it tends to be a country activity because the distances wanged can be considerable.
The sport seems to have originated in the West Country here in England sometime during the early 1970s in Adge Cutler and the Wurzels hey-day (remember them?) but has spread worldwide as far as Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, Scandinavia and even Italy which probably produces very fashionable welly wangers.
For some unknown reason the Fins are especially good at it and currently hold both men’s and women’s world records.
Must be the strong arms from all that skiing.
The gist of it is very simple – to throw a Wellington boot as far as possible.
You can throw overarm, underarm, round arm, spinning or from behind your back, any way you like.
In some forms the boot is filled with water to add a bit more embarrassment to the contestants but you are not allowed to put anything in the boot, like a large stone, which would make it easier to throw longer distances.
Sometimes a run-up is allowed, sometimes not.
The first world record throw recognised by the Guinness World Records was 173 feet set by Tony Rodgers in Wiltshire in 1978, using a size eight Dunlop Challenger boot.
The current world records are 209.9ft for men set by Teppo Luoma (Finland, 1996), and 134.1ft for women set by Sari Tirkkon (Finland, 1996).
In 1976 the local star was 25-year-old floor tiler Peter Westmacott, of Redwing Close, Malvern, who sent a welly winging 154 feet two-and-a-half inches through the air at Worcester City Show.
Peter Westmacott, of Malvern, who threw 180 feet in practice in 1976 which was farther than the world record at the time (Image: Newsquest)
However, Peter had achieved a throw of more than 180ft during practice in a field near his home which, had it been officially measured, would have been a world record at the time.
In fact the Worcester and District Championships, organised by the local Rotary and Rotoract clubs, were a highlight of the area’s sporting calendar for several years.
They were held either at Worcester City Show, on the lawn of the Dew Drop Inn at Lower Broadheath or in the car park of the Halfway House inn at Bastonford, near Malvern, and were a qualifier for the Dunlop-Daily Mirror Championships at Staffordshire’s Alton Towers.
Sipping Pimm’s on the lawns of Guards Polo Club at Windsor welly wanging ain’t.
But a bit of fun at the village summer fete it definitely is.
Sally Green arrives with approved wellies for the event at the Halfway House inn, Bastonford, in 1974 (Image: Newsquest)
Underhand tactics, adding a half-brick to the welly makes it easier to throw farther (Image: Newsquest)
John Bridges hurls a welly at the Halfway House during a charity event for the Worcester Coronary Care Unit appeal (Image: Newsquest)
John Harrison, organiser of Worcester Rotary Club’s event at the Dew Drop Inn in 1975, checks the distance (Image: Newsquest)
Telephonist Brenda Beard warming up for the Worcester and District Championships in 1976 (Image: Newsquest)