Country Show Boxing - 1

The friendly sporting rivalry between neighbouring English villages of Cranford and Knotbridge has been around for decades.

As well as the traditional male-dominated cricket and soccer matches, the Annual Country Show brought both villages together for the traditional agricultural and farming competitions. The ladies had always taken part in more gentle country pursuits with flowers and jam, while the men drove tractors , tended their livestock and showed their prowess in the tug-o-war arena.

One year in the 1960s, both Womens Institutes decided that the ladies should have their own physical competition. It was the start of the swinging sixties in the big city and the ladies of the village began to feel more liberated.

Very soon, the idea of the ladies donning boxing gloves against a suitably matched adversary from the other village was born. Open to all ladies from the different walks of life in each village, the roped arena soon rang to the sound of ladies indulging in the noble art, for village honours and local bragging rights ...until the next Annual Show.