By Isle of Wight Observer
The charity, Brambles tug-of-war organised by the Edgar Evans Club, and featuring the UK Field Gun Academy, took place in watery conditions on Monday.
The Edgar Evans Club, was founded by former Royal Navy Command Field Gunners, who wanted to preserve the spirit of determination, camaraderie, and team-work.
The club takes its name from Petty Officer Edgar Evans, who trained the Portsmouth Command Field Gun crew in 1907, before joining Captain Robert Falcon Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.
The annual competition takes place on the Bramble Bank, a sandbank in the middle of the Solent which emerges briefly during exceptionally low tides.
This year’s clash was won by the UK Field Artillery, who beat the Edgar Evans Club in rising waters as the tide came in.
Organiser, Rob De Silva, who said: “It was a little bit weird to turn up at the bank and there is no bank. Luckily it was shin deep so we just got on with it. We will be having our 2027 competition in the spring, so look for us around March time.”
This year’s beneficiary of the competition was the UK Field Gun Academy, based at the Stansted Park Estate, where it has been supported for the past three years with training facilities and space to store its equipment and materials.
Mal Butler