THE British Stone Skimming Championships took place at Walcot Lake in Lydbury North at the weekend.

There are male and female cate gories for under-12s, under-16s, adults and over 65s and winning attempts were judged on distance not the number of bounces – but the stone must bounce at least three times.

Only stones supplied by the organisers were used and people travelled from as far as Brighton in the south and Skipton in the north.

A total of 234 sets of four stones were skimmed adding up to more than 1,000 stones in total and there were 142 individual competitors.

Winner of the men’s open was Dave Sealey of Malvern with a new championship record of 87m, while Emma Ruffey of Kidderminster also set a new record with a throw of 40.5m in the women’s open.

Other winners included: Men over 65, Charles Sealey from Cambridgeshire, 55m; Women over 65, Bonnie Craig from Clunton, 15m; Boys under 16, Spike Clacy from Sarn, 50m; Girls under 16, Rebecca Edwards from Malvern,19.56m; Boys under 12, Albert Clacy from Sarn, 26.5m; Girls under 12, Freja Clacy from Sarn, 16m; All events on the field were well supported and the whole day raised money for the charity Prostate Cancer UK.