A BBC camera crew covered the Newent Onion Fayre this year, to prove that country people still know how to celebrate their rural heritage.

They were not disappointed, as organisers were delighted to see over 12,000 fun-seekers in the town centre: a figure slightly up on last year’s event.

The BBC 4 crew filmed highlights of the fayre for a forthcoming television documentary about life under Oliver Cromwell, following the English Civil War.

Onion Fayre spokesman, Andy Offord explained: “The Parliamentarians were not about people enjoying themselves, so the documentary will ask, are you a Cavalier or a Parliamentarian?”

For a brief period following the English Civil, most public festivals, including Christmas, were banned by Parliament because open jollity was thought to be sinful.

The cameras recorded Sean Wozencroft successfully defending his onion eating title.

To be in with a shout next year, rivals must practice eating a 7oz raw onion in less than one minute, and mouthwash is suggested by the organisers.

The BBC crew also recorded sheepdogs attempting to round up a flock of geese.

The Newent Onion Fayre was only revived in 1996, having failed to recover beforehand from the impact of the Second War.

But it certainly would have existed in Oliver Cromwell’s day, having been founded 300 years before his birth: when mediaeval Welsh cattle drovers would stop at the town to buy their onions from local producers.

To this day, the Newent Onion Fayre remains, in the words of its organisers: “the only national ceremony to worship the onion”.

Mr Offord said: “It was absolutely brilliant this year, with sunshine in the afternoon. We had a slow start in the morning, because the weather forecast looked depressing, but by the afternoon I think that crowds were a little bit up on last year, and it was a good-natured crowd.

“It was another successful year, the last party of summer.”

Mr Offord said a personal highlight for him was the live music.

Performers included The Roving Crows, Thrill Collins, Russ Poole, Luke Concannon, The Laurence Jones Band and the Glebe Chapel Choir.

A new attraction this year was a the Newent Food Festival on Budgen’s car park.

This was a traditional street market selling a variety of produce, from jams and chutney through to fruit and vegetables.