PANCAKES AT THE READY

Each year on Shrove Tuesday, the market town of Olney in Buckinghamshire comes to life with the annual pancake race. Local women race wearing an apron and a scarf or hat while flipping pancakes in a frying pan. First established in 1445, the origins of the tradition are unclear, though one story tells of a housewife who, upon hearing the shriving bell, hurtled to the church still clutching her pan containing a sizzling pancake. After a brief interval during the Second World War, the custom was revived in 1948, when Reverend Canon Ronald Collins found some old photographs and called for volunteers. The day now celebrates this colourful link to the town’s rich past.