BARNOLDSWICK is gearing up to be a food lovers delight by hosting its annual food festival and the town's second-ever World Meat Pie Championships next Saturday, April 23.

On a day packed full of activities, the two events will take place in conjunction with the celebration of St George's Day and The Queen's 90th birthday, all of which will be taking place in the Town Square, Civic Hall or Rainhall Centre.

Following a successful launch in February 2015, the World Meat Pie Championships is a free competition open to amateur home bakers and pie makers, with separate sections for professionals.

Contrary to the name, the competition features much more than just meat pies, as it also includes cheese and onion, vegetarian and potato pies as well as meat pies including steak, chicken and ham.

Last year's champion pie, a cheese and onion, was baked by Barnoldswick councillor David Whipp.

However, Cllr Whipp said he was unlikely to be defending his title as organiser James Wilson had selected him to judge the vegetarian pies.

To celebrate The Queen's birthday, Cllr Whipp said many local residents would be issued with square foil baking trays, which would be pieced together to make a giant birthday cake.

Cllr Whipp also said that fellow town councillor Andrew Murphy had been drafted in to brew a special beer for the occasion, the 4.2 per cent Royal Standard.

The Barnoldswick Food Festival will feature a number of cookery demonstrations and food tastings.

Many of the demonstrations will be done by Michelin-trained chef Steve Evans, while Yesmien Bagh Ali from Amaali in Skipton will be on hand to run chapatti making and pakora workshops. She has cooked alongside the likes of Madhur Jaffrey and Jamie Oliver.

There will even be a demonstration about how to make a Malkin pie, a regional speciality thought to have been consumed by the Pendle witches at their Good Friday feast in Malkin Tower in 1612.

The food festival will also include retailers in the town, with a town taster trail, where samples will be available to try.

The festival's annual cake-off will also be taking place to raise funds for a local charity. There are children and adult categories for the best tasting and the best decorated.

In addition, there will be a number of food stalls at the three venues, which will feature food and drink retailers from all across the region.

To enter the World Meat Pie Championships, visit piechamps.com.

If anyone wants to enter the cake-off, entry forms are available from the Rainhall Centre, or by visiting rainhallcentre.com or visitbarnoldswick.co.uk. People can also bring their cake entry along before judging at 11.30am on the day.