Race remembered

TWO weeks ago, I looked back at Binfield Heath’s annual wheelbarrow race, which returned after almost three decades at the village fun day on Sunday.

I have since received a photograph of the last of the original races, which happened in 1991.

It depicts Richard Winter, now 72 and still living in the village, with Mick Plumridge, who has since moved away.

The pair were competing together dressed as First World War flying aces and Mr Plumridge designed his barrow to look like a fighter plane from the era.

He used a plastic garden barrel which he marked with the livery of the New Inn, the old village pub that once marked the race’s halfway point.

It was decorated with fake bullet holes and crossed-off pints of beer in the same manner that pilots would mark “kills” on the sides of their aricraft.

This was because each entrant had to down three pints as quickly as possible as well completing the 1km relay dash from the Bottle and Glass pub to Shiplake Row.

When the race was over, Mr Plumridge gave children rides in his contraption.

Given how the event united the community and encouraged such creativity, it’s no wonder villagers were so keen to revive it.