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Ninety nine year old Alec Fozard has been making
pork pies since he was 13.
So the award winning pork butcher decided to show Calderdale's very own
Pork Pie Appreciatlon Society how its done.
Mr Fozard, who was European black pudding champIon in the 60s, was
invited by the group to be a guest judge at the 15th Annual Charity
Master Pork Pie Maker Competition In March.
While sampling the competitors offerings at the Old Bridge Inn,
Ripponden, the pensioners of Batley, promised to make the members one of
his own pies.
And keeping to his word Mr Fozard, who turns 100 in December, produced a
succulent homemade treat just last week, which the panel swiftly dubbed
one of the best they had ever tasted.
Mr Fozard, who has three children, eight grandchildren and four
great grandchildren, entered the butchery trade at 13, working in
Cleckheatdn and Bradford.
“My father was a publican and there was a pork butcher who would call
in every Sunday night. He was looking for an apprentice and I never
looked back.”
In 1935 MrFozard opened his own store in Staincliffe, near Dewsbury,
where he worked for 37 years never taking a full week’s holiday.
The hard work paid off when his black pudding was named the best in
Europe in 1969. “It was vets’ exciting. I was a member of the
Dewsbury and District Butchers’ Association and the news that I had
won came in on the night of the annual dinner dance. As we heard, the
band struck up with Congratulations.”
Mr Fozard said: “The best pork pie needs good ingredients, plenty of
experience and someone who Is interested In what they are doing,” he
said.
He still makes pies twice a year and bakes 20 Christmas cakes every year
for friends and family.
Kevin Booth and Richard Neville, from the society, described Mr
Fozard’s pie as “delicious”.
Mr Neville said: “It was one of the best pies we have ever eaten. What
is particularly impressive as it was made In Mr Fozard’s kitchen which
does not have all the tools of a butcher’s shop.”
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