Tristan : Tristan's Ratting Day 2008
Submitted by Tristan Times (Sarah Glass) 13.06.2008 (Article Archived on 27.06.2008)

Ratting Day was held on Friday 6th June. At first light, the Chief Islander Conrad Glass rang the gong, to signal to the men and women that it was a public holiday and Ratting Day. As soon as the gong sounded, the men were off hunting rats & mice for the day.

RATTING DAY 2008

Ratting Day was held on Friday 6^th June. At first light, the Chief Islander Conrad Glass rang the gong, to signal to the men and women that it was a public holiday and Ratting Day.  As soon as the gong sounded, the men were off hunting rats & mice for the day.  In the early hours of the morning the wind was in a North Westerly direction with a slight chill in the air, however as the day proceeded the sun came out and it warmed up.

The Doctor's and Administrator's Landrover were available at Hottentot Gulch at 8.30am onwards to transport the ladies with lunch packs and refreshments to the patches, where all teams came in to have lunch.

To qualify for a prize the teams had to comply with the following rules:

Only tails from rats and mice which have been caught on the Day would be counted. Any Tails from a rat or mouse which has been caught before Ratting Day would have been rejected. The Administrator's decision as to whether a tail qualifies was final.

All tails had to be presented at the Clinic by 6.00pm on the Day, with the Team Leader, or one representative from each team allowed during counting.  The Judges were the Medical Officer, the Deputy Head of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Chief Islander, with the Administrator standing close by as the referee.

A total of 913 rats/mice were caught on the day by the nine teams and the prizes were as follows;

1^st Prize for the Most Tails went to Second Watron

2^nd Prize for the Most Tails went to Red Body Hill

3^rd Prize for the Most Tails went to Twitty Patch

1^st Prize for the Longest Tail went to Red Body Hill

2^nd Prize for the Longest Tail went to Twitty Patch

The Booby Prize was given to the Farm gang who caught the less.

Although there was no dance organized in the Prince Philip Hall, the younger members of the community did have one later in the evening.

Sarah Glass