If you grew up in the counties of Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire you may have heard of this game while in the local pub, outside of this, and until recent decades, you might think of Worzel Gummidge when someone says Aunt Sally.

Aunt Sally is a traditional English game usually played in pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or batons at a ball, known as a 'dolly', balanced on top of a stick; traditionally, a model of an old woman's head was sometimes used. Leagues of pub teams still play the game, throughout the spring and summer months, mainly in Oxfordshire and some bordering counties. In France, the game is called jeu de massacre ("game of carnage").

History
The game dates back to the 17th century, although the name "Aunt Sally" may have been a later addition. It was traditionally played in central English Pubs and fairgrounds. An Aunt Sally was originally the modelled head of an old woman with a clay pipe in her mouth; the object was for players to throw sticks at the head in order to break the pipe. The target has also been a puppet, a live person, or a simple ball on a stick.
There are also other theories of how the game started. One such theory is that a live cockerel was placed on the stick, and people would throw sticks at it. Whoever killed it won the game and took home the chicken. Another theory is that in Port Meadow in Oxfordshire, at the time of the English Civil War, the Cavaliers (soldiers loyal to King Charles I) were bored and formed a game with sticks and makeshift materials similar to the game as understood today.
The game has also been played outside of the UK; picnic attendees were reported to play Aunt Sally in Australia in the 1880s. 
Today, the game of Aunt Sally is still played as a pub game in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.
In 2011 the inaugural Aunt Sally Singles World Championship took place at the Charlbury Beer Festival in Charlbury, West Oxfordshire. Among the attendees was Prime Minister David Cameron. The tournament has continued there annually ever since.
On 24 August 2019, the first world championship for Aunt Sally pairs was held in the Bull, Launton, Oxfordshire, and was won by the pub team from The Bell, Bicester. Darren Moore and Billy Craig were the winners. Runners-up were Aimee Sheehan and Christopher Hulme.
 

Our full Aunt Sally setup can be booked with, or without, an instructor and can be added to any of our instructor-led bookings at a discounted rate.