The Eighth Pie: 1964 - Celebration of Four Royal Births
As with the previous pie, there was a local purpose to having another pie event – the village wanted to build a Community Hall, and another pie was seen as a good way to achieve this. This happened to coincide with the birth of four royal births that year – something that had not occurred for 200 years – and therefore this was seen as a good enough reason as any to hold another Pie Day.
The 1964 births were:-
Prince Edward (now Earl of Essex) 7th in line to the throne
Lady Helen Windsor (now Lady Helen Taylor) 24th in line to the throne
Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones (now Lady Chatto) 14th in line to the throne
James Ogilvy 31st in line to the throne
(Note: Royal succession to the throne is as listed on www.royal.gov.uk the official Royal website)
The plans began again in earnest, again with the intent to bake the world’s largest pie. Publicity was national and the BBC made a film in the village for the ‘Tonight’ programme that was broadcast at the end of 1963. It was expected that anything up to ¼ million visitors would come to the event.
Then tragedy struck the week before the Pie Day; a car crash killed four Pie Committee men as they returned from a television programme recording in London. All the relatives were spoken too, and they agreed that the celebrations should still go ahead, as the men would have wanted them to.
The Dish and The Oven
George Naylor offered to make the oven again and Aireworth Engineering constructed the dish - 18ft by 6 ft by 18 inches deep. The dish required compartments to be designed within the dish to prevent the contents of the pie from washing down Miller Hill on its way along the processional route!
The Pie
This time local and national companies donated the contents of the pie. The Daily Mail provided 3 tons of beef and Job Earnshaw and Brothers 1 ½ tons of potatoes.
The recipe to be used on the day was finally chosen by a group of experts at a pie tasting event that included Clement Freud.
Pie Day
The pie was drawn by a traction engine and led a half-mile long procession through the streets of the village. At the ceremony the visitors and locals paid their respects to the four dead men and the hymn ‘Sandon (Lead Kindly Light)’ was played in the pie field. 30,000 servings of the pie were sold and the day was rounded off with a fireworks display.
The Pie Day and related events raised nearly £10,000. In 1969, Birkwood House, in the centre of Denby Dale village, was purchased by the Pie Committee and converted to the community hall. This opened on 5th September 1972 exactly 8 years after the Pie Day that made the purchase possible. The Pie Hall, as it is known locally, contains some memorabilia of the previous pie events and the 1964 pie dish proudly sits in the car park - converted to a large flower bed.
Commemorative plaque for the 1964 Pie
1964 Pie Dish - Outside The Pie Hall (photographed July 2003)
