I was too small to be in the tug-of-war but I know a lot of the big guys who did.  Later on it was held on the grass but the early tug of war used to be on a huge, huge long rope and so the 2 teams would line up on each side of the pond, with a red ribbon tied round the middle of the rope towards the middle of the pond. There would be 2 marker ropes. They would be the marker one would have to manage to pull right across the pond. The team on the losing side would invariably – at least the front guys – would all be pulled into the pond. So it was a much more fun event.  That also coincided in the local pram race. That was a very, very localised thing, done for charity, organised between the pubs where – mostly younger guys, maybe in their 20s or 30s – would get dressed up and get an old pram – we are talking about the much bigger old-fashioned prams with big wheels, as opposed to modern buggies now. One guy would dress up as a baby, complete with nappy and bonnet, and one dressed up as a mother – pushing – and they would do a pram race round the local pubs, stopping at each pub to have a drink, a pint. The race would end up down to Ham Pond and then the pram with the baby in would get pushed into the pond. All great fun! The pond was just really almost a sort of open water pit – a few lilies in the middle but not such a revered and pleasant place as it is now. It is much nicer now, great for the wild life and it looks lovely – but, swings and roundabouts …..