The cacophony was loud enough to deter any living creature: an almost state-altering din of weird and wonderful instruments being played to a questionable degree of proficiency. Some people were frantically hitting wooden sticks together to no discernible beat, others pinged pieces of metal to create a tinny echo. All the while, a trumpeter played the Indiana Jones theme. Tap, bang, thump. Dum, duh, dum, duuuum.
It was a noise meant to be alluring. To earthworms anyway.
Yes. The World Worm Charming Championships have been held annually in the grounds of a primary school in the north-west of England since 1980.
People flock to the village school's playing field from far and wide, some from outside the UK, to try to ‘charm' as many worms out of a given section of turf within a 30-minute timeframe, with the aim of becoming the world champion of worm charming.
It is noisy and frenetic at Willaston County Primary School in Cheshire, south of Liverpool. It is also incredibly frustrating when the worms decide to remain in the soil. But it is also fun, and all done to raise money for charity.
“There is a magic about it,†Mike Forster, competition co-founder and worm guru, told The Athletic. “It is a remarkable sight when it starts, because the worms can just flood to the surface.â€
World Worm Charming Championships
Rob Tanner
As with most competitive events, the championships have not been without controversy over the years: including cheating and the accidental deaths of a few worms (more of which later).
In the hope of becoming a world champion, The Athletic asked previous competitors for advice, including Forster, but — spoiler alert — there is no worm-charming trophy on display at The Athletic HQ as you read this.
“The best technique is to use a garden fork,†Forster explained. “A great worm charmer has the ability to waggle his fork back and to, which is called twanging, or in a circular motion, which is called twiggling. Or there is a tweak — when you hit the fork with a piece of wood to simulate rainfall to bring them up.â€
There is no one way to successfully charm a worm into making an appearance, as The Athletic found out.
A man dressed as a worm and another dressed as a bird compete in the World Worm Charming Championships in 2024 (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Some of the hundreds of people who took part brought along a bewildering array of utensils.
A group of Italian YouTubers had various children's garden toys and a xylophone in the hope of enticing worms to the surface. Some even choose to don fancy dress to try to attract the wriggly soil-dwellers (given these annelids don't have eyes, this tactic somewhat confuses The Athletic).
In a grid of marked-out plots (each team has an allotted three-square-metre space in which to work their charms), some tap-danced on a piece of wood, while others played musical instruments, including 13-year-old William Sefton, who was the one belting out Indiana Jones' famous theme, The Raiders March, on his trumpet.
William is a second-generation charmer. His 50-year-old father, Matt, was busy tweaking when The Athletic paid them a visit. He has been charming worms since the age of six and in their area of the field this year, the worms were in the mood.
“I think the most we caught was 70 or 80, but that wasn't very good compared to the other totals that year,†Matt says. “I reckon this year we have about 50 or 60.
“This year has been almost perfect conditions. We have had a lot of rain leading up to the event and that always helps bring them to the surface.â€
Indeed, water is so tempting to worms, it is one of the few things competitors can't use to aid their charming. No liquids of any kind are allowed, nor can worms be dug up. In total, there are 18 rules, enforced by the International Federation of Charming Worms and Allied Pastimes (IFCWAP), of which Forster is a member. The federation meets once a year and, according to Willaston County Primary School's website, at “other times of national crisisâ€.
An aerial view of the playing field at Willaston County Primary School (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
While most of the competitors are from the village, many come from overseas, eager to experience one of the UK's more curious activities. As a result, the rules have to be published in 30 languages.
A total of 3,396 worms were charmed this year, with the winners enticing 164 to the surface in 30 minutes – an impressive total, but shy of the record. In 1980, Tom Shufflebottom raised 511 from a three-square-yard plot, a record that stood until 10-year-old Sophie Smith's team charmed 567 from an admittedly larger three-square-metre area in 2009.
There is also an award for the heaviest single worm, the current milestone being 6.6 grams, set in 1987.
It was John Bailey, a former headmaster at Willaston, who thought up the idea for the championships after noticing worms coming to the surface when he and Forster started twanging the ground.
It is similar to worm grunting in the United States and some similar techniques are deployed at the World Championships, primarily placing a stick with grooves into the ground, with another stick then used to vibrate it. In grunting, the captured worms are used for fishing. In Willaston, no worms are harmed and are returned to the earth under the cover of darkness, to avoid birds feasting on them.
After 30 minutes, each competitor's worms are counted and a champion is announced (Rob Tanner/The Athletic)
“You never know which plot is going to produce the most worms,†says Forster. “People try lots of different things, and we also play music, because worms like music. We play music like Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, The Green Green Grass Of Home, Handel's Water Music and the 1812 Overture, with those big drums at the end.
“We had a girl one year who brought her pony to walk on the ground but, unfortunately, it squashed a few worms, so we had to be careful the next year.â€
