IT IS that time of year to show your skill with the frying pan. With Shrove Tuesday falling tomorrow, those making and tossing pancakes will be out in force across Oxfordshire, as they have done for many years.

These pictures was taken on the newly-opened Wood Farm estate at Headington, Oxford, in 1954.

Some of the mums seem experienced in the art, with pancakes flying accurately and confidently through the air.

Others appear hesitant, while one is clearly looking to her right for guidance from her competitors.

By the end, they must have been pretty exhausted – the organisers arranged not one race, but three, one after the other!

The Oxford Mail reported: “Ten Oxford women discovered that there are more hazards attached to pancake making than the trick of reversing the half-cooked batter.

“They got ready to run down Nuffield Road on the Wood Farm estate, with their frying pans held well in front.

Oxford Mail:

  • Mrs Peggy Manuel won the race and her prize was a frying pan

“After one false start, Mrs Marian Ford won the first race from Mrs Mary Hall. Mrs Peggy Manuel and Mrs Mary Hall tied in the second race and in the third, it was a straight victory for Mrs Manuel.

“She was duly presented with a frying pan by Mrs J A Grimes, organiser of the project.”

A large number of spectators turned out to enjoy the fun.

Mrs Grimes organised the event to bring extra money to the Wood Farm Community Association, which was hoping that a community centre would open in Chillingworth Crescent that spring so that a club could be established for elderly people.

Families had just started to move into their new homes – many of them originally lived in the former Army huts on the Slade camp a short distance away.

The Wood Farm pancake races were one of many that have taken place in Oxfordshire over the years.

The pancake tradition developed from the religious feasting period of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday when the eating of fat and meat was forbidden.

The day before, housewives would use what was left in their larders to make pancakes and go to church to confess or ‘shrive’ their sins.

The church bell would ring before noon to mark the end of ‘shriving’. Housewives eager to reach the church in time would run through streets still clutching their half-cooked pancakes.