Page 9 - Real Rochdale Issue 23 August 2024

ROCHDALE’S PANCAKE The cooking process took nearly

three hours, a marathon session that
LEGACY 30 YEARS ON 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
It’s been a date forever cranes delicately manoeuvred the
etched in the annals pan, flipping the pancake with
surprising grace.
of local history. The
13 August 1994 was a A mechanical operation of this scale
day when the town of had never been attempted before,
Rochdale did something 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
quite extraordinary, and onlookers.
something that no one
has managed to replicate The pancake, once cooked, was sold As the sun set on that historic day, Rochdale had firmly
in the three decades 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
since. 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.
As part of the 150th anniversary celebrations This mammoth pan was a triumph of Adding to the carnival-like
of the Rochdale Cooperative Movement, the engineering, and its creation was a story in atmosphere of the day was a Thirty years on, Rochdale still holds the record for the
town took on a challenge of gigantic itself, with a specialist team overseeing its special guest appearance by Mr world’s largest pancake, despite numerous attempts by
proportions: creating the world’s largest construction at Sinton Engineering in Preston. Blobby, the 1990s children’s TV others to snatch the title.
pancake. And in doing so, they cooked up not sensation. Dressed in his trademark
just a pancake, but a piece of history that is still The mixture, a concoction of flour, eggs, and pink and yellow spots, Mr Blobby In 2024 we can enjoy the memory of that historic
a topic of discussion among locals three the Co-op’s own-brand milk, was spread entertained the crowd with his achievement – and to the hope that someday,
decades later. across the pan, forming a pancake that would antics, though he may have been a somewhere, another generation might dare to
eventually measure a staggering 49 feet little disappointed that there wasn’t dream as big as Rochdale did on that unforgettable
On a typical summer day, over 40,000 people three inches in diameter and weigh in at an a slice of pancake big enough to day in 1994.
gathered in front of the iconic Town Hall for the astonishing three tonnes. To put that into satisfy his infamous appetite.
record attempt organised by The Co-operative perspective, the pancake was as heavy as a
Union Ltd. baby blue whale or four adult cows.

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 8 9 REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2024