Pancake Day

In some places the tradition is abandoned but here in Scarborough it continues.

Health and safety rules trip up pancake race

A Cathedral pancake race that is part of a 600-year-old tradition has been stopped because of health and safety rules.

The bell at Ripon Cathedral, which has rung at 11am to mark Shrove Tuesday since the 15th century, has signalled the start of the city's pancake race for the past 11 years.

Rippon Cathedral's Pancake Bell has sounded for 600 years, but will not herald the start of this year's race.

However, the event, in which children, traders, soldiers and even clergy compete, has been abandoned because of the amount of work needed to carry out risk assessments.The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev Keith Jukes, who helps organise the races, said: "We have looked at this and there are a number of reasons why it won't take place and a big reason this year is, sadly, health and safety.

"Any organisation that runs an event has to go through risk assessments. The insurance companies demand it and in the end you have to work out whether it's a risk you take.
"There is also the issue of road closures, which can be an expensive business."

Bernard Bateman, one of the organisers, said it was also becoming increasingly difficult to find volunteers willing to help as marshals.

In past years, the event, part of a long tradition of pancake races in Ripon, was likened to a village sports day, a last chance to have fun before the solemn season of Lent.

The race has been growing in popularity and even involved members of 38 Regt Royal Engineers, based in Ripon, who cook pancakes from a field kitchen outside the west front of the cathedral.

Mr Bateman, a councillor, said: "The main problem is health and safety. There are so many things to put in place to make sure the event can get off the ground.

"We had hoped to make the pancake race as much of a tradition as the pancake bell and it's a travesty that it has been killed off.

"Everyone involved in the race is a volunteer and at the end of the day fewer and fewer people are volunteering these days, and it's because of the paperwork that started off as well-meaning but has now gone overboard.

"It puts people off helping. It's just one thing after another."

Jean Smith, 61, a resident of Ripon, said: "It's totally daft. Why should paperwork get in the way of kids having fun? We seem to hear it all the time now but it's bureaucracy gone mad."

Ripon Cathedral traditionally used the "pancake bell" to summon penitents to church to be "shriven" by making confessions before the start of Lent.

A survey has suggested that two thirds of people in the country no longer mark the Christian tradition of making pancakes.

Many are even unaware of its place in the calendar. Shrove Tuesday, which falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, is today.

Pancakes have featured in cookbooks since 1439. The custom of flipping or tossing them is believed to have started in the 17th century. They are made from rich ingredients that include eggs and milk, which were used up in households before the 40 days of Lent during which only plain food should be eaten.


Teams get ready for Pancake Day races

SCARBOROUGH is gearing up for its traditional Pancake Day celebrations tomorrow.

Teams from local businesses and organisations will be taking part in the annual Pancake Olympics.

The event will start at 11am when Scarborough’s mayor, Cllr Janet Jefferson, rings the pancake bell, which is hung on the wall outside the Next clothing store in Newborough.

The pancakes races will then take place in Aberdeen Walk and a trophy will be presented to the triumphant team.

Previous winners include the Crown Spa Health Club, Boyes, North Yorkshire Police, Yorkshire Coast Radio and Manham Hill Fisheries.

Town centre manager Malcolm Hall said: “This has been going for about seven or eight years and we usually get a good turnout, with lots of people in Aberdeen Walk cheering the teams on.“

The tradition of ringing the pancake bell goes back hundreds of years.“Around 20 to 30 teams normally take part from all sorts of organisations and it’s a great way of bringing people together in the town.”

Children are then expected to gather on the beach for the annual afternoon’s skipping, which is Scarborough’s main Pancake Day event.

A number of primary schools are giving pupils the afternoon off with others leaving the decision up to parents.