13 strange town traditions: From cheese rolling to wife carrying – where does High Wycombe rank?

A chorus of jeers will ring out across High Wycombe on Saturday, as the town’s quirky tradition of publically weighing the town’s community leaders and politicians, while appointing a new mayor, returns for another year.

The unusual event of mayor making sees dignitaries sit on the scales in the middle of Frogmoor as an awaiting crowd watches to see if they have put on any weight over the last year at the tax payer’s expense.

Here we take a look at 13 of the UK’s strangest town traditions – including mayor making and one more from High Wycombe.

The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race

Is just what it says on the [baking] tin – people jump inside of giant Yorkshire puddings made of egg and flour and race along Bob’s Pond in Brawby, in North Yorkshire.

The World Worm Charming Championships

Forget dancing poisonous snakes, enticing worms out of the soil with music and vibrations attracts the crowds in Willaston, Cheshire. Incredibly, there are 18 strict rules competitors must abide, with drugs – including water – being banned.

UK Wife-Carrying Championships

Husbands chuck their wives over their shoulder and race to the finishing line, hurdling hay bales and buckets of water, in a bid to claim the massive first prize of a barrel of ale. Thirsty work.

Mayor Making

Dignitaries hop on to a seated-scale in the middle of High Wycombe and are weighed to see if they have been dining out at the public’s expense. The crowd will boo if the Town Crier shouts “and some more” – while councillors and the Mayor are treated as heroes if the cry is “no more”.

Bun throwing

Stopped in the summer of 2012, this whacky tradition could be set to hit the streets of Abingdon again this year. The ancient custom sees about 4,000 currant buns launched from the top of the County Hall.

World Toe Wrestling Championships

Wrestling like you’ve never seen it before. Wrestlers go toe-to-toe, quite literally, in a best-of-three fight until a champion is crowned. However, if you have ‘offensive smelling feet’ you will be banned from taking part in the contest held in Fenny Bentley, Derbyshire.

Burning the Clavie

A barrel is filled with tar and wood chips, set alight and rolled through the streets of Burghead, Morayshire. Anyone that can retrieve a piece of the burning barrel is said to receive good luck over the next 12 months.

Cheese Rolling

Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling has been summarised as “twenty young men chase a cheese off a cliff and tumble 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital.”

Nettle Eating Contest

The Dorset village of Marshwood hosts the internationally renowned nettle eating contest, with competitors coming from around the world to join in. With one hour to eat as many stinging nettles as a person can muster, the competitor who strips the most nettle stalks is declared the winner.

The World Stone Skimming Championships

We’ve all tried it at the beach or a river, but professional stone throwers from around the world descend on Easdale Island to skim a stone as far as they can within a designated lane. It must bounce at least three times.

Hen racing

Hundreds line the streets of Bonsall, in Derbyshire, once a year to witness a sporting spectacle like no other, as hen’s race against the clock. The tradition has been going on for about 100 years, with the races taking place in silence to ensure the animals are not put off.

World Gurning Championship

No such list would be complete without the famous gurning championship. The opposite to a beauty pageant, participants rock up to the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria to pull their ugliest face.

Beating the Bounds

Returning to High Wycombe, the Beating of the Bounds ceremony has been seen in towns and villages across the country, but it becoming a tradition which is no longer carried out in many places. Each year town dignitaries walk to each boundary mark of the town, before picking a person up (usually a child), turning them upside down and lowing their head onto the mark.