ON A summer's day, what could be more British than a village fete and welly wanging?

On Saturday, Shirenewton had both - not just any old welly wanging - the inaugural Welsh Welly Wanging competition.

The event was part of the Shirenewton fete, brought forward one week this year to co-incide with the Jubilee celebrations.

At the recreation ground on Saturday, around 800 people made their way to this corner of Monmouthshire to enjoy a day out in the (appearing and disappearing) sunshine.

And, to go with all those quintessential ingredients which make a fete - food, drink, cakes, bookstalls, music and dancing - there were also two alpacas on show for people to pet and the aforementioned competition.

David Cornwell, a member of the Shirenewton fundraising committee, said they wanted a showpiece to publicise the fete and, when welly wanging came to mind, thought they should make a national competition of it.

He added: "It's been very good, people are finding it trickier than they thought it would be."

As well as the stalls, which also had skittles, guess the number of eggs laid by the bird and cakes galore, patrons were treated to a performance by the Severnside Silver Dragon marching band.

Simon Langdon, 41, from Shirenewton, who brought his daughter Anna, six, along, said: "It's been going well and it's nice for the children to get involved."

Treasurer of Shirenewton Church, which organised the fete, Kevin Bounds, 59, said: "It's been going brilliantly, it's great to see everyone here enjoying themselves."

WHEN offered a chance to have a wang myself, I was more than keen to put my arm to the test against some of the finest Monmouthshire has to offer.

Having seen someone fail to wang it one inch (they hit the fence laid down as the throwing maker) and being told about the gentleman whose welly finished behind him, I had my target in mind: Don't finish last.

My first attempt was out of bounds and therefore a foul. On attempt number two, channeling my youthful forays into welly wanging, I gave it some welly (sorry) and my underarm effort bounced within the boundaries to a respectable 55ft.

It was a good 20ft or so off the top two, but a decent wang none the less.