Villagers plan largest pie

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 15

Villagers plan largest pie

NZPA-AAP London When it comes to pies, the villagers of Denby Dale, in West Yorkshire, are in a league of their own. The “Guardian” newspaper reports that they plan to make doubly sure of their official status as world re-cord-holders. In 1964 the people of Denby Dale baked the biggest meat and potato pie in the world. It was 5.58 m long, 1.86 m wide, and 46cm deep, and weighed nearly six tonnes. But holding the world record is not enough. The Denby Dalers intend to set new standards and so maintain a chequered 200year big pie tradition by baking an even larger feast. The first Denby Dale pie was baked in 1778 to commemorate the recovery from lunacy of King George

DI. Two weeks later the King was mad again. In 1846 the third pie was baked to mark the repeal of the Com Laws. It slid off a platform and was trampled by 15,000 people. In 1887, a reporter for a Leeds newspaper decided to cover the presentation of that year’s pie from a local bar. He wrote a colourful report of lipsmacking and merry making as the villagers tucked into their pie. Down the road in Denby Dale, however, the pie was opened and found to be contaminated. It was buried in quick lime. The 1964 pie was described as an example of “village idiocy” by the medical officer of the local council who said he had been caused great anxiety by the risk of food poisoning organisms getting into the pie. In his annual report he wrote of “high spirited jinks” being very well, but added: “Unfortunately Clostridium welchii has no sense of humour.” But the world record pie was completely sound and the way paved for more idiotic high jinks in Denby Dale.