Page 8 - Real Rochdale Issue 23 August 2024

ROCHDALE’S PANCAKE
LEGACY 30 YEARS ON
As part of the 150th anniversary celebrations
of the Rochdale Cooperative Movement, the
town took on a challenge of gigantic
proportions: creating the world’s largest
pancake. And in doing so, they cooked up not
just a pancake, but a piece of history that is still
a topic of discussion among locals three
decades later.
On a typical summer day, over 40,000 people
gathered in front of the iconic Town Hall for the
record attempt organised by The Co-operative
Union Ltd.
They gathered to witness an audacious feat of
culinary engineering that would leave a lasting
impression on both the town and the world.
Organisers Alan Gill and Graham King had
masterminded this colossal endeavour,
ensuring every detail was meticulously
planned.
The centrepiece was a 50-foot diameter pan, a
gleaming giant crafted from 25 tonnes of steel,
designed by the mechanical engineers at
Manchester Metropolitan University.
REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2024
The cooking process took nearly
It’s been a date forever
etched in the annals
of local history. The
13 August 1994 was a
day when the town of
Rochdale did something
quite extraordinary, and
something that no one
has managed to replicate
in the three decades
since.
This mammoth pan was a triumph of
engineering, and its creation was a story in
itself, with a specialist team overseeing its
construction at Sinton Engineering in Preston.
The mixture, a concoction of flour, eggs, and
the Co-op’s own-brand milk, was spread
across the pan, forming a pancake that would
eventually measure a staggering 49 feet
three inches in diameter and weigh in at an
astonishing three tonnes. To put that into
perspective, the pancake was as heavy as a
baby blue whale or four adult cows.
8 9
three hours, a marathon session that
had chefs turning and tossing the
enormous pancake with a precision
that was nothing short of impres-
sive.
The crowd held its breath as the
cranes delicately manoeuvred the
pan, flipping the pancake with
surprising grace.
A mechanical operation of this scale
had never been attempted before,
and the success of the flip was met Images supplied by the Co-operative Heritage Trust, copyright Co-ops UK.
with a roar of applause from the
onlookers.
The pancake, once cooked, was sold As the sun set on that historic day, Rochdale had firmly
off in pieces to raise money for local secured its place in the Guinness World Records. The
pancake, with a surface area of 1,905 square feet – 53
charities, ensuring that the day’s
efforts had a lasting impact beyond percent bigger than the internal surface area of an
the record books. average detached house – became a symbol of the
town’s ingenuity and togetherness.
Adding to the carnival-like
atmosphere of the day was a Thirty years on, Rochdale still holds the record for the
special guest appearance by Mr world’s largest pancake, despite numerous attempts by
Blobby, the 1990s children’s TV others to snatch the title.
sensation. Dressed in his trademark
pink and yellow spots, Mr Blobby In 2024 we can enjoy the memory of that historic
entertained the crowd with his achievement – and to the hope that someday,
antics, though he may have been a somewhere, another generation might dare to
little disappointed that there wasn’t dream as big as Rochdale did on that unforgettable
a slice of pancake big enough to day in 1994.
satisfy his infamous appetite.
REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2024