Organisers of the World Conker Championships have raised fears they could be forced to cancel the competition due to this summer’s extreme weather.
For decades, hundreds of conker players have descended on the village of Southwick in Northamptonshire to take part in the event as they battle it out for the title of Conker King and Queen.
The event has also raised money for charity – more than £420,000 for the visually impaired since it was established in October 1965.
The competition this year, set for 12 October, is expected to draw as many as 2,500 fans and 256 players.
But organisers are concerned they will have to cancel the games this season, as the conkers are smaller than normal due to the recent heatwaves.
To play, the conkers are hung by shoe laces looped through a hole drilled into them, but if the conkers are too small, then they might split when the hole is created.
Organiser Charles Whalley blamed the dry and hot summer, which led trees to shed their conkers too early, and so before they grew to their full size.
He told the Daily Mail: “It’s been a worrying time, a really worrying time. Because we want the big, good, fresh conkers because they’re the best for the championships.”
However, he offered reassurance that the risk the event will be cancelled this year is still only “small”, with confirmation as to whether the tournament will go ahead set to come within a week to 10 days.
The UK experienced its hottest summer on record in 2025, according to the Met Office. The mean temperature in the UK from 1 June to 31 August was 16.10C, which is 1.51C above the long-term average. Back-to-back heatwaves across the country caused droughts and wildfires over the past few months.
St John Burkett, spokesperson for the competition, said organisers are “concerned” and “worried” over the prospect of cancellation.
“We can’t remember seeing conkers this small so close to the event,” he told the newspaper.
Mr Whalley added: “We are hopeful that in a couple of weeks’ time we’ll be able to go around and collect the final conkers to be the ones we actually use.”
Organisers have even resorted to freezing fallen conkers or preserving them in buckets of water, in desperate efforts to save the games this year.
However, Mr Whalley reassured fans that any frozen conkers would be fully defrosted before they would be used to play, especially following the “steel conker scenario” seen last year.
The World Conker Championships in 2024 were embroiled in a cheating scandal. Known as “King Conker”, David Jakins secured last year’s men’s competition title – but the validity of his victory was called into question after cheating allegations surfaced, accusing him of using a conker made of steel to “obliterate” his opponents.
However, 83-year-old Mr Jakins, who has competed in conker events since 1977, denied the allegations and was later cleared of cheating.
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