FOOD fans Pat Paine and Averil Hicks, enjoyed half an hour of fame on Monday afternoon, when they appeared in their favourite show, Ready, Steady Cook.

Mrs Paine, 69, of Pewsham, in Chippenham, applied to appear on the BBC 2 hit-show with best pal Mrs Hicks, 65, of Marshfield Road, two years ago.

Much to their surprise, their application, which was made for a bit of a laugh, caught the programme-maker's eye and they were invited to film in London on October 24.

The icing on the cake for Mrs Hicks came when she realised she would be partnered with one of her favourite chefs, Anthony Worrall-Thompson, in the 'red tomato' kitchen.

"I was pretty nervous before we started but everyone was so kind and really put us at ease," she said.

"And things were so busy that we almost forgot the cameras were there."

Mrs Paine agreed: "We thought, we're not going to get the chance to do this every day and just went on and had an unbelievable time.

"It took an hour-and-a-half to film the show and afterwards, the presenter Ainsley Harriott and the other chefs, autographed our aprons," she added.

Mrs Paine, who runs a B&B said she had a lot of call from friends and guests since the show went out.