The last weekend of July 2019 saw the first ever Scottish Scything Festival take place at Blackhaugh Community Farm in Perthshire.
120 people, including 20 or so children gathered for a day of talks, demonstrations, taster sessions, scythe sales and of course a scything competition.
The afternoon’s competition had 29 entrants and in spite of a lodged and tough sward, there were some fine displays of speed and technique.
The overall winner John Pears was presented with the Scottish Scything Champions wooden quaich.
The traditional ‘scythe versus strimmer’ competition formed the climax of the afternoon when it was proved once more that the scythe is faster and does a better job than a strimmer.
Competition Results
Rudenko mowing
29 Entrants to heats from which 4 best chosen to mow a 5m x 5m square in the final .
The Gairloch Gathering scoring method was used to determine placing, which is:
Time (in seconds) plus quality score (best 1, worst 20, multiplied by ten) equals final score. The lowest points win.
1st John Pears- 4.13(253secs) + 8 x 10 (80) = 333
2nd Jim Mcvittie – 4.43(283secs) + 6 x 10 (60) = 343
3rd Rudenko Velinov – 5.48(348secs) + 3 x 10 (30) = 378
4th Richard Wilson – 4.05(245secs) + 17 x 10 (170) =415
Everyone is now looking forward to next years event which is planned for the same place and same time.
for more details see https://blackhaughcommunityfarm.weebly.com/scythe-festival.html