BURY will be "pud" on the international stage when the official world black pudding throwing contest takes place on Sunday (Sep 28).

Competitors from across the globe will join local folk to see who can knock down the most Yorkshire puddings with Bury's most famous delicacy.

News of this unique tournament has spread far and wide, and visitors from Australia, Denmark, Japan and Canada are expected to attend.

The contest is held at the Royal Oak pub in Bridge Street, Ramsbottom during a festival of events running from noon to 4pm. Music will continue into the evening courtesy of Badger, Big Lix, Molly Bloom and Das Ringmeisters.

It costs £1 for three puddings to throw, and proceeds go to the Stubbins Community Trust.

The tournament has taken place in Stubbins since the 1850s, but when the Corner Pin pub closed, an alternative venue had to be found.

The contest is a revival of the old Lancashire/Yorkshire rivalry, when the sides respectively threw black and Yorkshire puddings at each other. One legend suggests that, during the Wars of the Roses, both sides ran out of ammunition and lobbed food at each other. Another theory is that it was started by mill workers from the rival counties.

Meanwhile, manufacturers Chadwicks of Bury, who are supplying the puddings for the event, are planning to ask the European Union to make Bury the registered home of the black pudding. This would require manufacturers in other areas to call their versions something else.