The
game of quoits goes back a long way; the discus thrown at the original
Olympic games in Ancient Greece may have been the original quoit.
Horseshoe pitching may have evolved as a poor man's version of the
game.
A
Scottish theory on the origin of the game is that it was invented
by James IV, who encouraged his soldiers to relax and pass the time
before major battles by throwing horseshoes at an iron pin stuck
in the ground. Another story tells of John Knox's horror at finding
Calvin playing quoits on the Sabbath! Many variations of the game
are found all over the world and many variations exist in the UK
alone.
The
oldest version, played in Scotland and Wales is called 'The Long
Game' or 'The Old Game'. The game is a traditional pub game and
it seems to have been associated with agricultural and working class
people, and in particular with the mining industry.
Quoits
were generally made from poor quality left over metal from mine
forges. This is why main areas of quoit playing seem to have centred
around mining communities.
The
game is a test of strength as well as skill due to the heaviness
of the quoits and the distances thrown. The quoit can weigh up to
11 pounds (5kg: that's 5 bags of sugar!), the distance thrown can
be up to 21 yards (19.2 metres).
The game is still played in these venues in Scotland: Glenburn Miners' Club,
Prestwick, Ayrshire The Working Men's Club, Larkhall, South Lanarkshire Dunnottar Quoits Club, Stonehaven,
Aberdeenshire. |
As we mentioned, quoits were made from discarded, poor quality
metal from the mines. Since the quoits themselves were not particularly
'glamorous' we thought that instead of advertising them as a product
we would advertise an event in this campaign - the annual quoiting
competition in Broxburn.
Not everyone knows what quoits are or how to play the game. So
we thought we could explain the game better if we made this an interactive
advert. This means that as well as being an advert, you can have
a shot at throwing the quoits too. Just follow the instrucrions
as they appear on the screen when you load the advert.
Firstly, Christopher (7) took some excellent photographs of the
quoits and the quoiter's bag (above) featured in our exhibition
space.
Kim (6) and Richie (8) helped identify and scan some original photographs
of a quoiting team (?Broxburn?) (below right) from our archive.
We also found a reproduction of a clipping from the (?newspaper,
date?) talking about the grand competition which celebrated the
opening of the new quoiting club grounds in Broxburn. We also transformed
a photograph of a typical miner into the score-keeper in our game
(left).
Graham (8) contributed vocals at the beginning of the movie. And
at the end, you can see Graham and his sister Lorraine (6) starring
as our strong people. You definately don't want to mess with them!
Reem (7) and Connie (9) were our enthusiastic vocalists for "Broxburn
quoiting championship".
Lastly, Jo (8) added the final touches by photographing the sack
of Smith's Oatflakes from our collection (below). We figured Smith's
might like to sponsor this kind of event, where competitors and
future strong people depend on their daily doses of porridge.
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