Robert Dover's Cotswold Olimpick Games

Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games 2010 will be providing Gloucestershire residents and visitors with a unique sporting extravaganza for another year running, almost 400 years after they first began.

On Friday 4 June 2010 thousands of spectators, and scores of brave competitors, will gather on Dover’s Hill in Chipping Campden, attending what promises to be another sporting spectacle in the form of Rober Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games 2010.

With a plethora of unusual sporting events, a whole host of family activities and plenty of demonstrations to keep visitors entertained, the Gloucestershire custom is a highlight of the summer events calendar and has attracted attention from around the world over the years.

The schedule of activities for this year is likely to be as follows, with details soon to be confirmed:

Lower Arena events

Drawing upon customs established as far back as 1612, the day’s proceedings will kick off at around 7.30pm with the official opening of the games by the nominated ‘Robert Dover’ and ‘Endymion Porter’, along with the Scuttlebrook Wake Queen, played in by a band with cannon fire awakening the spirit of the games.

From 7.45pm The Championship of the Hill will take place, when a parade of the teams who compete in a succession of rural sports begin with the traditional obstacle race.

At 8.15pm competitors will take on The Five Mile Run through the grounds of Campden House, while 8.20pm will see the Junior Circuit Race of Dover’s Hill take place.

The Olimpicks are taken up a notch at 8.30pm with the Champion of the Hill which will include throwing the hammer, putting the shot, the standing jump and spurring the barre.

A highlight of the Games will take place at 8.45pm, in the form of the shin kicking heats, while at 9.15pm the tug o’war heats and final will take place, followed by the day’s climax at 9.30pm with the final of the British Shin Kicking Championships.

Upper Arena events

A number of events and activities will take place on the Upper Level of the hill throughout the evening, including face painting, a Birds of Prey enclosure, a fairground organ, climbing wall, fairground rides and stalls. While hot dogs, burgers, ice creams and hot and cold drinks will keep the whole family going.

In Demonstration Area A: At 7.30pm there will be a display by Chipping Campden Morris Men and guests Pebworth Morris Men, at 8pm there will be a display by The Coventry Corps of Drums, at 8.15pm a display by students of the Campden Academy of Dance, at 8.30pm a performance by St Andrew’s Pipe Band and at 8.45pm by The Pacesetters – a dog training school.

In Demonstration Area B: At 7.30pm there will be a Maisters of Fighting Arts display, at 7.50pm a Single Stick Fighting Display, at 8.30pm another Maisters of Fighting Arts and Single Stick Fighting display and at 8.50pm a Tae Kwon Do display.

Dover’s Hill events

A highlight of the Games, the Torchlight Procession is not to be missed and includes the lighting of the bonfire by the Scuttlebrook Queen, a dramatic fireworks display and then the unique sight of thousands of people in the torchlight procession making their way down the hill to the Square in Chipping Campden.

At 9.45pm Robert Dover and Endymion Porter invite the Scuttlebrook Queen to light the bonfire, followed by the fireworks display, and at 10.10pm the Torchlight Procession leads off from the main entrance – played by The Coventry Corps of Drums and St Andrew’s Pipe Band – with torches available from the stall.

Chipping Campden Town Square events

Following on from the Torchlight Procession, Chipping Campden town square fills and hours of entertainment and dancing begin.

At 9.30pm the band will begin playing, at 10.35pm the Torchlight Procession arrives and Robert Dover drinks to the health of the Scuttlebrook Queen, and from 10.45pm there will be floodlit dancing to the music of The Copycats until 12.30am. Many of Chipping Campden’s local hotels, pubs and restaurants will stay open late for the special occasion.

History of Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games

Like many of Gloucestershire’s more unusual customs, the Olimpick Games have a somewhat unknown but certainly long history, rooted in paying homage to the ancient Games of Greece. The Cotswold Games as we know them today draw upon records from the early seventeenth century, in particular a collection of poems and illustrations from 1636 showing attorney Robert Dover presiding over what is now known as Dover’s Hill – with activities including dancing, backswords, coursing, throwing the sledge hammer, spurning the barre, pike drill tumbling and shin kicking all taking place.

Moreover, Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games have in fact been cited by the British Olympic Association as a precursor to the Olympics as we know them today: ‘The Cotswold Games began the historical thread in Britain that was ultimately to lead to the creation of the modern Olympics’. And reigning King James I is said to have given the Games his stamp of approval, recognising the event’s ability to ‘promote good feeling among the common people towards their king’ according to an account from The Times newspaper.

British Shin Kicking Championship 2008 video