PARWICH.ORG

Thanks to Matt H for alerting us to this story (and photo) in the current edition of the Ashbourne News Telegraph.

The man responsible for turning up Ash Wednesday’s Shrovetide ball is in fact Matt’s uncle: John Harrison, who (along with Matt’s late father and aunt Christine) was born and lived for many years in Ballidon.

John is also responsible for making the balls for each year’s Shrovetide matches, spending about 15 hours on the construction of each ball.

There’s more on next year’s Shrovetide matches here and here.