The Mancunian Way: 'He can wear his crumbs with pride'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.

To Wigan, where this year’s World Pie Eating Championships have been rocked by a ‘bad batch of pastries from down south’. For the first time in the contest's long and distinguished history, organisers allowed the 12 competitors to drink water between bites due to a lack of moisture in the pies. "They weren't a proper Wigan pie, I don't know how southerners eat their pies,” said competition boss Tony Callaghan, who organises the annual event at his bar in Wigan. “There was no moisture to them, they were too dry.

They were horrible, actually.” At this stage it’s worth pointing out that the pies actually came from the far flung southern outpost of Stockport, as Ian Coulton, who wolfed down a meat and potato offering in a lightning fast 44.9 seconds to defeat five-time champ Martin Appleton-Clare in a dead heat, explained. "That was a tough one,” he said as he basked in the glory of his second victory in the competition. “There was a mix up in the pie delivery, so we ended up having to eat some from down south, Stockport I think, and they were a bit dry.” A magnanimous Martin, who previously won the title in 2012 and four successive years from 2015 to 2018, paid tribute to his conquerer. "I knew he had me about five seconds from the end - a worthy winner, and he can wear his crumbs with pride,” he said.

Alex Batty was just 11 years old when he went to Spain with his mum and grandad. But the boy from Oldham never came home.His mother Melanie and grandad David were due to fly back with him on October 8, 2017.