Dorset Knob Throwing
Two New World Records Set at Dorset Knob Throwing at the Cattistock Countryside Show!
Since the last show in 2024, our Knob Throwing Committee had shrunk to just three members, although we were able to call on Ian Gregory to handle our side of the publicity, for which we offer him our thanks and gratitude.
Also since last year’s show, we had lost our new found source of knobs as that supplier went out of business, but Wayne was soon on the case and found another willing bakery. The knobs supplied by this bakery turned out to be more durable than the previous year, and we had a far lower breakage rate.
Apart from the Knob Throwing, we had 9 associated games, plus a merchandise stand, and we decided that again, we would sell tickets at the entrance, which could be redeemed at any of the games. Running these games relied on volunteers from the village and its associated sports clubs, for which we are very grateful.
As we approached our opening time of 11:00am, it was gratifying to see that we had a queue of eager punters building outside our enclosure.
As mentioned before the weather this year was rather warm, and whilst we were quite busy in the early part of the show, as the temperature rose we noticed a dropping off in business.
As we were selling tickets and bags of knobs at the front desk, we were of course talking to our customers and it was interesting to note how many different nationalities we had passing through our gates. There were American, Canadian, Ukrainian, South African, Dutch and French knob throwers.
We were lucky enough to have two new Knob Throwing World Records set at this event:-
Men’s – Rob Dansey with a thrown distance of 32.05 metres
Under 12’s – Mungo Pears with a thrown distance of 24.60 metres
So congratulations to both of them!
The object of the Knob Throwing, apart from having an enjoyable day, is of course to raise money for village clubs and organisations. To this end, each volunteer would earn an amount which could be donated to a beneficiary of their choosing. At the wash up meeting the Knob Throwing Committee decided on a distributable fund of £ 1,980 meaning that each volunteer who stayed for the whole show would be allocated £ 60, and those that did half a day, £ 30, donated to their chosen beneficiary. The results are shown in the table below:-
| Club/Organisation | Amount |
| Cricket Club | £ 780 |
| Tennis Club | £ 390 |
| Cattistock Community Fund | £ 360 |
| Badminton Club | £ 120 |
| Community Hub | £ 120 |
| Living Churchyard Project | £ 120 |
| Library | £ 30 |
| Cattistock Church | £ 60 |
| Total | £ 1,980 |
The monies have been distributed.
On behalf of the Knob Throwing Committee, we would like to thank the Cattistock Countryside Show Committee and all the helpers and volunteers who made it such a success, and we look forward to doing it all again next year.
Wayne Briggs, Patrick Nelson, & Ian Vine.
The Dorset Knob Throwing Committee.
If you would like to know more about the origins of the Dorset Knob Throwing event, plus the financial benefits it has brought to Cattistock, please read the following article
It’s crazy, it’s zany, it’s growing like Topsy and it was invented here in Cattistock.
It’s Dorset Knob Throwing!
The first Dorset Knob Throwing took place behind the Fox and Hounds in Cattistock. So next year we did it again with a bit of grub thrown in. Then it got too big for behind the pub so we moved to the Cattistock village play area. The date was fixed as the first Sunday in May. By this time the food element was expanding fast and you would be amazed at the number of Knob games fertile minds can dream up! It grew and it grew – a move to the football pitch followed. It took on the grand title of The Dorset Knob Throwing and Frome Valley Food Festival. And still it grew with over 5,000 visitors in 2016 almost swamping our village.
At this time the event boasted 75 food, craft and general interest stalls, 2 bars, 3 bands, loads of gazebos and marquees all centred around the Knob Arena which featured no less than 14 Dorset Knob Games of which the most popular remains the original Dorset Knob Throwing. And, before you ask, the Dorset Knob Throwing World Record stands at 31.9m! This was set by James Vincent-Smith in 2019.
It’s now the fastest growing Food Festival in Dorset. It has moved to Kingston Maurward College just outside Dorchester but it’s still a Cattistock event, organised and manned by the village.
The 2019 KnobFest was a huge success with record numbers attending and reports could hardly have been more favourable. There were glitches – not least traffic management on public roads – and a lot of lessons were learned but for the 8,000+ visitors who made it to Kingston Maurward it was a great experience.
Over 100 people from the village and surrounds manned stalls, gates, Knob Games and carried out an array of other tasks to ensure the event ran well. Our visitors enjoyed the day in company with local and national media and even Children’s BBC was present. Knob Throwing will be the theme of a CBBC 2020 programme. Hopefully we will know in advance when it is to be aired.
Those 8,000 visitors enjoyed over 90 food and craft stalls, two main bars (one selling “Dorset Knob” Beer the other being a “pop-up” Fox & Hounds, 3 bands and plenty of informal entertainment. Financially it went very well with over £10,000 returning to the Village.
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The Knob Team: Wayne Briggs, Patrick Nelson, Ian Vine. Contact any of them if you want to know more.
