The Tenth Pie: 2000 – The Millennium
This reason for this pie seems rather obvious – celebrating the new Millennium! The Denby Dale Pie Souvenir Programme states that there were three aims to the event:
· Continue the tradition of record breaking pies and it was felt that such a once-in-a-lifetime occasion such as the Millennium could not pass by with it being celebrated in the village’s time-honoured fashion.
· Continue supporting the village community projects as needed, with the objective of providing a football field and refurbishing the Youth Club
· Provide two days of safe family fun!
The Dish
The pie dish weighed 12 tonnes, and measured 40ft by 8 ft by 44 inches deep and was made by Parkway Sheet Metal of Rotherham and designed by The School of Engineering at The University of Huddersfield. The dish was divided into 24 compartments each heated by its owned, individually controlled, 3 kilowatt heating element.
The Pie
The pie contents included 5000 kg British beef, (provided by Asda), 2000 kg potatoes and 1000 kg onions. And for the first time 100 kg John Smith’s Best Bitter!
Pie Day
On the 2nd September the fully cooked pie was drawn on a seventy-foot long wagon through the village, up Miller Hill and then past Dry Hill Farm into the Pie field, where the Bishop of Wakefield blessed it.
The parade was led by Hade Edge Brass Band, and followed by the Crofton Majorettes, Shire horses, Denby Dale brownies, guides, scouts and cubs, Sheffield Giants Stilt Walkers and band and fire eaters to name a few.
Around 30,000 people came to the event and watched former cricket umpire Dickie Bird cut the pie.
