Remembering The Broadwindsor Pram Race

It is rumoured that the Broadwindsor Fun Group may hold a pram race as part of their 2022 Jubilee celebrations.  Village resident, Pip Cadwell recalls his memories…

The Broadwindsor Pram Race was founded in the late 1980s and it was the idea of a small group of regulars of the Cross Keys Pub.

The idea of the race was that teams of 4 had to push their hand made craft from Broadwindsor to Drimpton and back again. The vehicle had to be home made, with no  form of propulsion (motors, pedals, Elastic bands, etc etc)  whatsoever. 1 member of the team had to be seated on the vehicle at all times. The vehicle had to have at least 4 wheels in contact with the ground at all times.

Now, as we all know, going down to Drimpton is very easy, coming back from Drimpton to Broadwindsor is a different story. The race started at The Comrades Hall, and each team had to stop at The Cross Keys, The White Lion, and The Royal Oak , and had to consume at least half a pint of Beer. or Cider, or a soft drink for the under 18s, there was no limit on the alcohol intake at each Pub.

There were roadside drink stops on the road whish were supposed to dispense soft drinks to the teams as they passed. I took part in every race , and I seem to remember the Barley water at these roadside stops tasted very ‘strange’, almost ‘Apple based’ and it affected my speech and my legs…

By the time we got back to the Comrades Hall all that running affected our legs and our ability to talk sense, we soon got over that after a few refreshing glasses of ‘Barley Water’ or whatever it was.

The record holders in a time of 41 minutes , (there and back) were the Whacky Racers from Beaminster.

Over the years we raised many thousands of pounds for local good causes , and a lot of fun was had along the way.

 

Thank you to Pip for the photographs too!

And from 1988 – (Rev) Richard Thornburgh – the In-Flight Catering team and plane visible at the back with him as the chef and Chris as Pilot.

 

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