Battle of the pies at care home: Residents mark British Pie Week in style

Residents, their families and staff at Garden Hill Care Home, South Shields, took part in a national pie making event.

As part of British Pie Week, Garden Hill Care Homeresidents got out their rolling pins and took on the battle of the pies.

Sina Scott, activities co-ordinator at the home, in St Michael’s Avenue, said the day was a huge success, with everyone having a lot of fun.

She said: “A lot of care homes were taking part, so we decided to join in.

“We had everyone baking pies, the staff, residents, families and members of the community. It went down really well.”

Among the vast range of pies, were mince, steak, apple, rhubarb, corned beef and many more varieties.

The judging panel included members from the community police team, a new member of staff and one of the family members.

After an extensive tasting session, a mince creation, baked by the home’s chef, Leanne Carling, was crowned the winning pie.

Sina’s steak and ale pie she baked with a group of residents, came in second place and a beef and gravy pie, baked by Jack Flockhardt, took third place.

Sina said: “It was a fab day, everyone loved it. We all had pies for lunch and then there will be pies for tea - we are all pied out.”

She said the baking event was a great way of bringing the community together and it also brought back a lot of memories for many of the residents.

The activities co-ordinator said: “We were talking about it beforehand and a lot of the residents were talking about when they used to use plates to make pies on.”

British Pie Week has been running since 2007 and takes place in the first March.

It is a celebration of the nation’s love of homemade pies.