finding a good conker

on a car journey to the cheshire smokery today, i noticed there were numberous amount of horse-chestnut trees linning the country roads,
many of the conkers had fallen onto the road, i was so tempted to stop to pick them up, and master the art of conkers or kingers

During the months of September and October conkers was a favourite game in the school grounds . It is a game which has been played every autumn for generations but nowadays fewer children are playing it.

Did you have a favourite tree to get the best conkers?
where have all the conker trees gone?

Did you know? ......

On finding your first conker of the season, you should say:

" Oddly oddly onker my first conker". This ensures good fortune and few tangles throughout the coming season.

did you do any on the following to make your conker harder- this could be considered as cheating
•Soak your conker in vinegar.
•Bake your conker in the oven.
•Use an old conker from previous years.

World Conker Championships

This event is held every year on the second Sunday in October on the Village Green at Ashton in Northamptonshire. Contestants are not allowed to use their own conkers. Nuts are supplied for each game after being gathered and strung by the organisers. Each game lasts five minutes. If neither conker has broken a shoot out takes place. Each player has three sets of three hits and the one who lands most clean hits is the winner.

http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/index.php

Interesting facts about Conkers

Britain is believed to be the only country in the world where the game of conkers is traditionally played with horse chestnuts in the autumn.

Horse chestnut trees were first introduced to England in the late 16th century from Eastern Europe.

Horse chestnut conkers, unlike many other kinds of chestnut seed, are unfit for human consumption.

Conkers are edible by deer, cattle & horses.

The first recorded game of conkers was on the Isle of Wight in 1848 and was modelled on a 15th century game played with hazelnuts, also known as cobnuts.

The origin of the name 'conker' is unclear, but one popular explanation is that it stems from the French word cogner, meaning to "hit" or "biff".

Extracts from horse chestnuts have been used to treat malaria, varicose veins, diarrhoea, frostbite and ringworm, as well as being a component of sunscreen products.