Gavin Cooke, who was Bishops Castle All England Stone Skimming Championships third placed man last year gets in some practice to the delight of organiser Heather Ashton.

The All England Stone Skimming Championships are due to be held at Bow House Equestrian, near Bishop’s Castle, on June 26. Event organisers had claimed the title for the first time this year after being told a similar forerunning event on Coniston Water had been disbanded.

But it has today it emerged that the Lakes’ event will be going ahead in August after all – and will be advertised as the All England Championships.

Heather Ashton, one of the organisers of the Shropshire event, said all the publicity had been sent out for the event and it was too late to change the title of their competition.

She said: “We had been told by several people that it was not going ahead but now we have been told they are going ahead as the All England Championships.”

“Our event is first and there’s nothing we can do at this stage – all our publicity has been sent out. Maybe we will have to say the stone skimming season runs from July to July, as their event isn’t till August.

“Hopefully next year we will be able to work together with the organisers of the Lake District event – some of us were planning to go to their event later this year anyway.”

The event is judged by the distance the stone travels, although each stone has to bounce three time across the surface of the water to count.

The stones are supplied by Mid Wales Stone and were being collected by organisers yesterday afternoon. All proceeds from the event will go to Prostate Cancer.

Last year’s winner Richard Struthers managed to throw his stone 69 metres – longer than the winning scores in the official World Championships in Scotland and the Welsh Championships in Pembrokeshire.

Mrs Ashton said: “We’ve moved the event to the Saturday this year as there is a chance England will be playing in the World Cup on the Sunday if they win their group.

“We are keen for as many people as possible to turn up and have a go.”

Entrants can register on the day and, for more information, call (01588) 638818 or e-mail ashton386@btinternet.com