A PUB landlord is appealing for help filling in the names missing from a list of winners of an ancient village game.

Peter Leigh Hamilton is preparing a comprehensive list of winners of the Sedgefield Ball Game, which is reckoned to have been played in the County Durham village every Shrove Tuesday for almost 1,000 years.

Mr Leigh Hamilton wants to find out the names of every winner of the game since 1940 and intends to display them on a board in his pub, The Hardwick Arms.

His research has established the names of all of the winners since 1965, not to mention the winner of the 1909 game - Usher Stubbs - but there are quite a few blanks.

Mr Leigh Hamilton said the search for previous winners has already provoked a lively debate among regulars.

He said: "I want to end up with the definitive list of winners since 1940 and then we can have a board, something like a golf club trophy board.

"It's surprising the number of people who have forgotten when they won it, but by a process of elimination we've ended up with this list."

Anyone who can fill in any of the missing names is asked to contact Mr Leigh Hamilton on (01740) 620218.