| 1st Years |
| Until the early nineteenth century, Quidditch was played on day brooms of varying quality. These brooms represented a massive advance over their medieval forerunners; the invention of the Cushing Charm By Elliot Smethwyck in 1820 went a long way towards making broomsticks more comfortable than ever before. Nevertheless the nineteenth-century broomsticks were generally incapable of acheiving high altitudes . Brooms tended to be hand-produced by individual broom-makers and while they are admirable from the point of veiw of styling and craftman ship, their performance rarely matched up to their handsome appearance. A case in point is the Oakshaft 79. Crafted by the broom-maker Elias Grimstone of Portsmouth, the Oakshaft is a handsome broom with a very thick oaken handle, designed for endurance flying and to withstand high winds. The Oakshaft is now a highly prized vintage broom, but attempt to use it for Quidditch were never Successful. Too Cumbersome to turn at high speed, the Oakshaft Never gained much popularity with those who prized agility over safety, though it will always be remembered as the broom used in the first ever Atlantic broom crossing, by Jocunda Sykes in 1935. The Moontrimmer, which was first created by Glayds Boothy in 1901, represented a leap forward in broom constuction, and for a while these slender, ashhandled brooms were in great demand as Quidditch brooms. The Moontrimmer's principal advantage over other brooms was its ability to acheive greater heights than ever before.GladysBoothy was unable to produce Moontrimmers in the quantities Quidditch players clamoured for. The production of a new broom, the Silver Arrow, was welcomed: this was the true Forerunner of a racing broom, acheiving much higher speeds than the Moontrimmer or Oakshaft, but like these it was the work of a single wizard, and demand far outstripped supply. The breakthrough occured in 1926, when the brother Bob, Bill and Baraby Ollerton started the Cleansweep Broom Company. Their first model, the Cleansweep One, was produced in numbers never seen before and marketed as a racing broom specifically designed for sporting use. The Cleansweep was an instant, runaway success, cornering as no broom before it, and within a year, every Qudditch team in the whole country was mounted on Cleansweeps. The Ollerton brothers were not left in sole possession of the racing-broom market for long. In 1929 a second racing-broomcompany was established by Randolph Keitch and Basil Horton, both players for the Famouth Falcons. The Comet Trading Company's First broom was the Comet 140, this being the number of models that Keitch and Horton had tested prior to its release. The patented Horton-Keitch braking charm meant that Quidditch players were much less likely to overshoot goals or fly offside, and tha Comet now became the broom of preferance for many British and Irish teams consequence. While the Cleansweep-Comet competition became more intense, marked by the release of the improved Cleansweeps Two and Three in 1934 and 1937 respectively, and the Comet 180 in 1938, other broomstick manufacturers were springing up all over Europe. The Tinderblast was Launched on the market in 1940. Produced by the Black Forest company Ellerby and Spudmore, the Tinderblast is a highly resilient broom, though it has never acheived the top speeds of the Comets and Cleansweeps. In 1952 Ellerby and Spudmore brought out a new model, the Swiftstick. Faster than the Tinderblast, the Swiftstick nevertheless has a tendency to lose power in ascent and has ever been used by professional Quidditch teams. In 1955 Univversal Brooms Ltd. introduced the Shooting Star, the cheapest racing broom to date. Unfortunately, after it's intial burst of popularity, the Shooting Star was found to lose speed and height as it aged, and Universal Brooms went out of business in 1978 In 1967 the Broom world was galvanised by the formation of the Nimbus Racing Broom Company. Nothing like the Nimbus 1000 had ever been seen before. Reaching speeds up to a hundred miles per hour, capable of turning 360 degrees at a fixed point in mid-air, the Nimbus combined the reliability of the old Oakshaft 79 with the easy handling of the best Cleansweeps. The Nimbus immediately became the broom preferred by professional Quidditch teams across Europe, and the subsequent models have kept the Nimbus Racing Broom Company at th top of the field. The Twigger 90, first produced in 1990, was intended by its manufaturers Flyte and Barker to replace the Nimbus as market leader. However, though highly finished and including a number of new gimmick such as an inbuilt Warning Whistle and Self-Sraightening Brush, the Twigger has been found to warp under high speeds and has gained the unlucky reputation of being flown by wizards with more Galleons than sense. |
| Welcome to 'Quidditch and Brooms for Ist years'. This year I hope you have a great time. Your 1st assignment will be to read Chapter nine from Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp.Then write a paragraph telling what your favorite broomstick is and give 5 reasons why. Thank you. -Professer Sarah Hanes |
| Chapter nine The Develovment of the Racing Brooms |
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