A bid to change the location of one of Cornwall’s oldest games and swap pennies for chocolate coins has been dubbed “health and safety gone mad”.
Hurling the Silver Ball, right, believed to be 1,000 years old, is due to be held in St Ives on February 5. It starts with a ball thrown to children on the harbour beach. Council bosses wanted to shift the event to another beach after high tides revealed jagged rocks, but were narrowly defeated.
Safety chiefs added chocolate coins should be used because children have been hit in the eyes by pennies and tangerines wrapped in foil thrown as decoys to the ball.
But the game marks the 1434 consecration of the town’s harbour parish church…the only place, opponents say, to start the game. Councillor Andrew Mitchell said: “The mayor throwing tangerines wrapped in tin foil? How would a chocolate coin hitting you in the eye be less of a problem than an actual penny?
“This is health and safety gone mad.”
St Ives’ mayor JohnnieWells said of the standoff: “It’s a bit of a nightmare.
“We are now waiting to see if the insurance companies will let [the game] happen.”
