The World Amateur Pork Pie Championships took place at the end of July, and the grand total raised for charity has finally been announced by the dedicated team.

Following a successful inaugural event last year, The Grainstore and The Rutland Pork Pie Appreciation Society hosted the second iteration of the pie-lover event on 29 July.

The event saw members of The Rutland Pork Pie Appreciation Society test out their skills creating the local delicacy and competing to win the title at The Grainstore's Alehouse Rocks festival, which ran alongside the competition.

Last year's entries. Image credit: Vernon Stokes / The Grainstore Brewery.

The group enjoy monthly meetings and social get togethers at The Grainstore Brewery on Oakham's Station Approach on a Sunday afternoon, where attendees can make a pork pie at home and bring it along to enjoy alongside like minded people - with a couple of award winning beers from the brewery team thrown in for good measure.

In 2022 they launched their World Amateur Pork Pie Championships at the popular brewery, and it certainly filled a niche, attracting pork pie makers from across the area and raising funds for the East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS).

This year's competition once again supported EMICS, with all entrance fees and funds raised going to to the team of volunteer emergency doctors.

EMICS is a network of volunteer doctors with specialist training in pre-hospital emergency medicine who assist East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) at the scene of life threatening emergencies. EMICS doctors provide advanced specialist skills at the point of accident or injury, where they are needed most. 

The importance of the work they do in rural communities such as Rutland is particularly profound, which is why the team decided to support them once again - and raised a whopping £3003 in the process!

The Grainstore Brewery and Tap. Image credit: The Grainstore.

On top of raising such an admirable total, the competition crowned a local winner, Vince Howard, who is a firefighter with Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service Oakham Station, but who counts pie making as one of his hobbies.

His Stilton and pork filling, with pastry made with Grainstore beer, helped him emerge victorious this year.

Congratulations to Vince and the team following a successful event!