Pork Pie Master Hits His Century Print
Pie Club History

After nearly 90 years of baking pork pies Alec Fozard knows a thing or two about what makes a good one.

And that's why he was delighted to receive this extra special 100th birthday 'cake'.

The 10-inch pie, weighing 2kg, was created by Leeds butchers Wilsons of Cross Gates, who won the top prize in a recent pie competition in which Mr Fozard was a judge.

To thank him for his efforts, the competition organisers asked Wilsons to create a giant pork pie the perfect treat for the man who has lived the ultimate life of pie.

Great grandad Mr Fozard, who now lives near his family in Mirfield, baked his first pork pie at the age of 13, when he says he was "thrown" into an apprenticeship with the local butcher's shop in Cleckheaton.

He told the YEP: "I still make them now and I love them. It's the ingredients that make a good pork pie simple."

His enthusiasm for baking and for butchery has never

waned and his family claim he also makes the best Yorkshire puddings in town.

Daughter Judith Batty said he still loved eating the pies and was also happy to eat dripping and tripe.

Alec's philosophy for a long and happy life is simple: "Food is what keeps families together."

And that's why he is never happier than when his three children and more than a dozen grandchildren and great grandchildren are sitting at the dining table with him, enjoying one of his home-baked creations.

Meanwhile the 100th birthday pie remains untasted it has been frozen and will be shared the next time the family are all together.

Wilsons partner John Green, who presented Mr Fozard with the pie on Saturday, explained the centurion had been a guest judge at the Pork Pie Appreciation Society's competition in Ripponden, near Halifax. Mr Fozard has been invited to spend a day at the Wilsons shop.

By Aisha Iqbal