Traditional Shrove Tuesday events make post-Covid return
Traditional Shrove Tuesday events - some of which date back hundreds of years - are making a grand post-pandemic return across the Midlands as the region marks Pancake Day.
For the Atherstone Ball Game, which dates back to the 12th Century and the reign of King John, it’s been more than two years since it was last held.
In 2020, the game - a popular attraction for the Warwickshire town - was abandoned part-way through after one of the stewards suffered a heart attack.
After a lengthy recovery, Martyn Kellegher-Burton was finally discharged from hospital in June last year - and has now been chosen to start this year’s event.
The raucous affair involves hundreds of people fighting for control of a large ball - with the winner being whoever has managed to hang onto it after two hours.
Elsewhere, the Royal Shrovetide football game in Ashbourne in Derbyshire, which also traces its roots back to the 12th century, returns after last being played in 2020. Organisers have asked people attending to take a lateral flow test beforehand due to the number of people expected to take part.
And at Worcester Cathedral, the Pancake Race is also returning this morning.
Participants race over an obstacle course around the cathedral’s medieval cloisters, dressed in cassocks and flipping real pancakes as they go.