by Angela Cole
acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

The sun shone and the national TV cameras rolled as more than 1,000 people gathered for a custard explosion.
Sixteen teams threw down the annual messy gauntlet to each other on Saturday,September 22at the World Custard Pie Championships.
The event has been going since the 1960s, and was attended this year by comedian Rory McGrath and actor Will Mellor, filming for a series on “eccentric” British pastimes.
They weren’t disappointed as founder Mike FitzGerald squared up to take more than 100 pies in the face as part of a world record attempt.
He and fellow organiser Brian Mortimer were hoping to throw the most custard pies in a minute, but didn’t quite make the 56 or more needed.
But Mr FitzGerald, who had to take double that as there was also a practice session beforehand, said: “It actually started to hurt as we had to do it twice. They wouldn’t let us use our custard, but it was fun.”
This year’s event was held at the Stile Bridge Pub near Marden, moved from its traditional June date and Coxheath venue due to the Jubilee and Olympics.
The winning team was Pie of the Tigerwaiting to find out where they were from.

• For more pictures see the Kent Messenger, out now. Picture above used courtesy of Paul Brown at www.printsprintsprints.co.uk