Dorset knob-throwing festival cancelled for 2018 Published duration 2 February 2018

image caption Knob-throwing has been a Dorset pastime since 2008

An annual knob-throwing festival has been cancelled for 2018 and could become a biennial event, organisers have said.

The competition to hurl the traditional local Dorset biscuits the furthest distance has been running since 2008.

Knobmaker Moores Biscuits recently told organisers the event had "run its course" but had since changed its mind, festival chairman Ian Gregory said.

The firm said the event would come back "bigger and better" in 2019.

The competition incorporates a food festival, as well as games such as knob and spoon racing and pinning the knob on the Cerne Abbas giant.

More than 4,000 people attended the event in 2017, when it moved from Cattistock to Kingston Maurward House near Dorchester.

image copyright Rupert Cake/Chris Ould image caption Other games at the festival include pin the knob on the Cerne Giant

Mr Gregory said the cancellation of the event scheduled for May was caused by several factors including the retirement of long-serving committee members and Moores Biscuits' stance.

He said the festival might switch to being held every two years "to give it more oomph".

David Winship, a partner at Moores Biscuits, said: "We've been doing it for 10 years. It's not formulaic but it's much the same year after year and I think the cancellation was right."

Dorset knob facts

The biscuits have been made by Moores of Morecombelake for more than 150 years

Originally they were made from leftover bread dough with added butter and sugar, hand-rolled and left to dry in the dying heat of the oven

It is thought their name comes from the hand-sewn Dorset knob buttons that were also made locally

They can be eaten with Blue Vinny cheese, dipped in tea or cider, or taken with honey and cream - known locally as thunder and lightning