New Summer Big Bash event incorporates world snail racing championships

A new Summer Big Bash event is to take place next month, organised by a foundation which was launched in memory of a local cricketer.The Mark Redhead Foundation will stage the event on July 6 at Congham Hall in Grimston and it will include the world snail racing championships.The organisers explained the day itself was borne out of the joining of two competitions which date back generations. The Hancock Cup, founded in 1960, was relaunched in 2019 as the Mark Redhead Memorial Trophy, in honour of Mark, from Grimston, who died the day after his 43rd birthday in 2018, following a six-year battle with cancer after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011.

Grimston Cricket Club play an invitation team of All-Stars for this hotly contested trophy and the revived Snail Racing World Championships, included in Guinness World Records, has been held in Congham for over half a century as part of the annual church fete.The snail racing was added last year to the cricket club’s fun day and Mark Redhead Memorial Trophy match.This year, the organisers have said the free family event will be bigger and better. As well as the cricket and snail racing, there will be a craft fair, barbecue, street food and a licensed bar. There will be a bouncy castle and other inflatable sporting activities followed by a packed evening of entertainment with live music featuring last year’s Battle of the Bands winners, Wicca, and Dead Horse.

Gates will open at 10am and events will run throughout the day until the music finishes at 10pm. Funding of the day’s activities is being provided by the foundation’s trustees and patrons together with headline sponsor Francis Wain Jewellers and all profits will go to support local good causes.