The organisers of this pancake race faced a problem before it began – only one mum had brought a pancake and a frying pan!

So with 20 other mums having nothing to toss and nothing to toss it in, what were they to do?

The pancake-less mums had thought the organisers would be providing the necessary utensils and ingredients.

However, a few scratched heads later, and a solution – well, a partial one – was found.

Rhona Arthur, headteacher at Foresters First School in Wood Farm, Oxford, where the event took place, raided the school kitchen and collected a pile of plastic plates.

She couldn’t run to pancakes, even plastic ones, so competitors would just have to toss the plastic plates in the air and hope for the best.

As one mum put it, if you hit a problem, improvise – and that’s exactly what happened at this pancake race in 1977.

It was held four days early because Pancake Day – or Shrove Tuesday – fell during half-term week that year, and it had to be held indoors because of heavy rain.

But no matter, there was plenty of enthusiasm from the children, as you can see from the picture right.

They were eager to cheer on their own mums, and if they weren’t taking part, they no doubt had their favourites among the ‘field’.

A series of heats was held to find the fastest runners – and the most skilful with the pancake or plates – leaving just three to take part in the grand final.

Since there was only one pancake and one frying pan – supplied by Pat Beesley – the finalists ran separately against the clock.

The timekeepers declared Muriel Ramsden, of Lye Valley, Headington, the winner – she is pictured right with the pan and pancake, surrounded by some of the pupils. She was presented with her prize – we don’t know what it was – by her five-year-old son James.

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 bells would ring before noon. Housewives eager to reach the church in time would run through the streets still clutching their half-cooked pancakes.

Foresters First School had a short life.

It was the name given in 1975 to the former Wood Farm Junior School in Titup Hall Drive, while Wood Farm Infants’ School next door became Shotover Way First School. In 1980, the two merged to become Wood Farm First School for children aged five-nine.

How many pupils can we identify in the picture? Please write and let me know.