Charity gig for SYMND (South Yorkshire Motor Neurone Disease). What fantastic night hosted and organised by Mel White. With over £1000 raised for the charity, you can be sure that someone in south Yorkshire that is affected by MND has had a small yet mighty difference made to their lives.
So the Pie Hall… We couldn’t help but take a look around and find the story behind the name. So, the Pie Hall had made many (massive) pies for all sorts of occasions. Now, we aren’t making any comments but take a look at this story:
The Repeal of the Corn Laws Pie - 29th August 1846: ‘During the Napoleonic War, British farmers had been encouraged to grow enough corn to make the country self-sufficient, as import of corn from Europe had effectively ceased. When the war was over, many farmers feared that a sudden import of foreign corn would flood the market, bringing down the price, and so ruin them. To safeguard the farmers’ interests the Tory government passed the Corn Laws in 1815, preventing the import of foreign corn until British corn reached the famine price of 80 shillings a quarter. The effect of this measure was to keep bread prices abnormally high at a time when bread was the staple diet of the poor. The Corn Laws became the symbol of the oppression of the poor by the landed gentry, and the years following the economic slump of 1837 became known as the Hungry Forties for good reason.’
“Surely not!” we hear you scream from the back! Tories would never look after the rich land owners and systematically kill off the poor of the country by blocking out Europe. “But, that’s okay.” We hear you shrug at the front: “History rarely ever repeats itself, and anyway, my Conservative Leopard is now a Socialist Tiger, animals change!”
For those of you saying “politicians aren’t animals!” - oh yeah? Have you ever eaten with one?
BACK TO THE POINT YOU LEFTIE SNOWFLAKE.
‘What could be more natural that when the hated Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, Denby Dale should decide to bake another pie in celebration.’
(Because nothing says ‘yay, we have affordable corn again’ like 44½ stone of flour.)
‘The pie was baked in the village in a grand oven at Cuckstool Farmhouse. In fact, this oven, standing near the footbridge over a river, was used as a dyehouse and a plaster’s workshop before being swept away only in recent years. A temporary stage had been erected and a large number of people had assembled in the field. The immense pie was brought into the field on a farmer’s wagon and lifted onto the temporary stage. Some speeches were made, and as the crowd below increased so did the people on the stage until, whilst one of the orators was holding forth on the advantages of a cheap loaf, the stage gave way and came down, pie and all. CRASH! A crowd of 15,000 people surged forward, a scramble ensued and amid a wild state of turmoil and riot the stage was utterly demolished and the pie flung to the winds. There was no formal cutting up of the pie since Mr.Joseph Peace, who was to have had that honour, is reported to have fallen into the pie when the stage collapsed. The remarkable list of ingredients which went into the making of the 1846 pie was recounted as follows : 91 ½ lbs suet - 19lbs lard - 16lbs fresh butter - 100lbs beef - 1 calf - 5 sheep - 7 hares - 14 rabbits - 4 pheasants - 4 partridges - 2 brace grouse - 6 pigeons - 2 turkeys - 2 Guinea fowls - 4 ducks - 4 geese - 4 fowls - 63 small birds - and 1lb pepper. The pie was a stand pie, with its bottom, sides and top made from pastry.’ (Yum, we can just feel the heartburn warming our chests as we speak.) ‘44½ stone of flour went into making the huge pastry coffin, measuring 21 feet in circumference and 1 foot 10 inches deep, into which the meat and game contents were placed.’
If you want to know more go here: http://www.denbydalepiehall.co.uk/pie-history/ honestly, the golden jubilee pie story is my favourite and well worth a visit.
LIKE A BLUNT PENCIL WE REALLY MUST GET TO THE POINT.
So, anyway, Mel put on a fantastic charity night with some top notch acts showing their support… And us, of course, yes, we were there too!
The hall was a little cold, so Dean took the blanket out of Beth’s car (reserved for nap-nap times at work) and Jude and Beth huddled together for warmth - like penguins, only less cute. Classic Jude, Beth’s mum forgot her purse on the night. Note: the picture of Jude triumphantly waving the £10 we had between the three of us on a charity night…
There was good music, good laughs, and extremely interesting history lessons. We almost felt cultured… like bacteria.
