World Black Pudding Throwing Championships facts for kids

Crowd gathered outside the Royal Oak, Ramsbottom, for the 2007 championship

The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships are held annually in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, outside the Royal Oak pub on Bridge Street on the second Sunday of September. The event was originally held outside the Corner Pin pub in nearby Stubbins before that pub was closed and converted to offices. Money raised by the event is donated to local good causes.

Local legends claim the tradition dates back to the War of the Roses. Warring factions of the House of Lancaster and the House of York at a battle in Stubbins, Lancashire, in 1455 are said to have run out of ammunition and resorted to throwing food at each other; black pudding from Lancashire and Yorkshire puddings from Yorkshire.

The competition was revived by a pub landlord in 1839, revived again in 1984 by the Stubbins Community Trust. It has been a popular custom in the town ever since, drawing thousands of spectators to watch every year.

Competitors must knock down the most Yorkshire puddings, placed on a 7.6 metre high plinth, by hurling three black puddings at them.

List of winners

Year	Winner
1996	Dave Howarth (ENG)
2000	David McCabe (ENG)
2001	Jim Riley (AUS)
2002	Steven Pilkington (ENG)
2003	Nick Connor (ENG)
2004	John Burns (ENG)
2005	Mark Greaves (ENG)
2006	Dave Jones (WAL)
2007	Paul Rudge (ENG)
2008	Adam Arthern (ENG)
2009	Huseyin Ozluk (TUR)
2010	Terry Adams (ENG)
2011	Warwick Turner (AUS)
2012	Alan Cunliffe (ENG)
2013	Huseyin Ozluk (TUR)
2014	John Barrett (ENG)
2015	Mark Cannon (ENG)
2016	Gavin Ogden (ENG)
2017	Nick Pennell (ENG)
2018	Andrew Ferrier (ENG)
2019	Tom Lowden (ENG)