CHILDREN and their parents had fun taking part in pancake races through the main street in Chirton, near Devizes, on Tuesday.

The street was closed while pupils of Chirton Primary School raced along tossing pancakes.

There was also a mums' race and a dads' race and villagers turned out to cheer them on.

Lynn Bridewell, the school's admin officer, said: "The children arrived at school with pans and pancakes and they really enjoyed the races and they did well at tossing their pancakes."

After the races, people tucked into lunch at The Wiltshire Yeoman pub where they enjoyed sausage, beans and chips followed by pancakes.

In Devizes, more than 20 members of the town's Morning WI tucked into pancakes at the home of their president Ann Sainsbury on Tuesday. The pancakes were cooked by Mrs Sainsbury and a number of other members of the committee and there was a number of mouthwatering fillings on offer.

Staff at Sarsen Housing Association, in Devizes, took part in a fancy dress pancake race in which they had to overcome various obstacles in the association's car park while flipping their pancakes at the same time.

As well as having fun they raised about £100 for the association's nominated charities this year, Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Nurses.

In Swindon, Phil Blundell fried up a footie treat when he created a pancake in the shape of the FA Cup.

A loyal Arsenal fan, Mr Blundell, 33, from Woodhall Park in north Swindon, works as the chef de partie at the Nationwide Building Society's headquarters. Despite it being five times larger than a typical pancake and slightly thicker, Mr Blundell managed to flip it before cutting it into the shape of the FA Cup.

ssingleton@newswilts.co.uk