Fig Pie Wakes

I had a great afternoon today at Wybunbury (pronounced Wimberry) attending the annual Fig Pie Wakes!

To enter, you need to go to Wybunbury Post Office and buy an entry form (complete with recipe) and bake a fig pie. You can support your local post office and buy all the ingredients there:
The aim is to roll (and definitely not throw) your fig pie from the start (near the Swan Inn):

and preferably get it to the Red Lion,

complete with traction engines,

and preferably beyond!

There was entertainment laid on - face painting, tugs of war and Morris dancing:

and your intrepid reporter climbed the steps of the Leaning Tower of South Cheshire:

braving the bells:

in search of a better angle on the festivities:

The 29.3 metres tall leaning tower of St Chads was built in the 15th century on the site of an earlier church. Apparently five churches have been attached to the tower, but each one has had to be demolished due to subsidence.

This year there were (despite the bad weather) 197 entries.

The local MP, Edward Simpson opened the race:

with a special HP fig pie:

We were assured by the commentator that a receipt had been provided!

There were three categories, Age 10 and under:

Age 16 and under and Adult. There was a wide range of fig pies, although there were strict rules - e.g. no frozen fig pies and the winner was opened to ensure the pie conformed with the recipe.

Some were thin and almost like plates, some looked more like pork pies and this one was so burnt it matched the entrants drink (of Guinness?):

Some were as off the mark as the commentators shirt:

After all the pies had been rolled measurement were made. The winning entry went 101 metres (that's over 331 feet), and the road cleared for traffic.