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Boxing Day events will be a knockout
The 2010 Geddington Squirt battle begins
Revellers will be out in force to take part in Boxing Day festivities around the county on Monday.
Events including the Geddington Squirt and the Woodland Pytchley Hunt will take place as normal, with people set to flock from far and wide to watch.
The traditional soaking dished out by firefighters in Geddington’s Ford in West Street pits the village’s volunteer fire brigade against a team from Kettering’s fire station.
Members of each team aim their hoses at a barrel suspended on a wire across the river.
Their challenge is to squirt jets of water at the barrel, and the winner is the team that pushes it to their opponents’ side of the ford.
The Kettering team has dominated the event in recent years, again taking the title last year, but members of Geddington Volunteer Fire Brigade (GVFB) will be eager to redress the balance.
Gary Sharman, Captain of the Drill for GVFB this year, said: “It will be a fun-packed day of action and squirting between two fierce sides.
“We’ve been practising and we believe the trophy is coming back to us this year.”
Members of the volunteer fire brigade will meet at 11.30am at their headquarters in Grafton Road, with the Squirt set to start at about midday.
Riders meet in Brigstock for the Woodland Pytchley Hunt every Boxing Day.
But in 2009 the freezing weather conditions meant that it was unsafe for the hunt to go ahead.
Things were back to normal last year but huntsmen will be hoping the snow and ice stays away again this time.
Mark Lapsley, landlord of the village’s Green Dragon pub, said: “Basically in 2009 the riders couldn’t get their horses up the hill.
“They all congregate outside the pub – I’ve had a meeting with the hunt master and he said everything will be going ahead as normal.”
This year riders will meet from 10am and set off at about 11am.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North west
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