Children help keep centuries old tradition alive

Schoolchildren are reviving part of a centuries old annual tradition by making hats for a village game.

The Haxey Hood has been played in the North Lincolnshire villages of Haxey and Westwoodside since the 14th Century. It involves a mass scrum to push a leather tube, known as the hood, to one of the village pubs.

This year, children from two local schools have taken part in a competition to create a hat which they will wear for the game on Tuesday.

James Chatwin, who plays the character of the fool, said: "It's all about getting the community together and making sure the tradition continues."

Mr Chatwin said one or two children wore hats to the game last year but, other than that, this part of the tradition had died out, despite it being a key part of the event many years ago.

"It's not something that's happened since I've been around and I've been to every Haxey Hood that I can remember since being a child," he said.

Keen to get more children on board, Mr Chatwin approached Westwoodside C of E Academy and Haxey C of E Primary School to set up the competition.

On Monday, organisers of the Haxey Hood will visit the schools to judge the children's hat competition and inform them about the historical game.

Mr Chatwin said: "It is a tradition. There's lots of nice photos from years gone by of the younger generation with hats, feathers and badges on.

"Let's hope they're all wearing them on hood day and we get to see lots of flowery and feathery hats about."

Hazel Krco, Parent Teacher Association secretary at Westwoodside C of E Academy, said: "It's really important the children learn about the local tradition and it will help to keep it going in the future because they are the next generation of the Haxey Hood."

Ms Krco said the Haxey Hood organisers had donated £150 to the school which would go towards improving its library.

The tradition is said to have started when Lady de Mowbray was out riding between Westwoodside and Haxey – between Gainsborough, Scunthorpe and Doncaster – when her silk riding hood was blown away by the wind.

She is said to have been so amused to see local farm workers chasing it, she rewarded them with land – on condition that the chase be re-enacted every year.

According to the story, the worker who caught the hood was too shy to approach her and handed it to a fellow worker to return.

It is said that Lady de Mowbray thanked the man who returned the hood and said he had acted like a lord. The worker who caught it was labelled a fool.

The game begins with the ceremonial fool delivering a speech while a bonfire is lit behind him, covering him in smoke.

Traditionally the game – which can run for hours and attracts hundreds of spectators and participants – involves pushing the 3ft (1m) hood to one of the four pubs in the two villages.

The fool's speech ends with the chant: "Hoose agen hoose, toon agen toon, if a man meets a man knock 'im doon, but doan't 'ot 'im."

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