How you can ensure a Houghton Feast tasty tradition for ox roast sandwiches continues in 2020

Eating ox roast sandwiches at the annual Houghton Feast dates back as far as Elizabethan times with people queuing for hours to buy them in recent decades from a stall organised by by Houghton Rotary Club.

With this year’s celebrations renamed Houghton Feast at Home and mainly taking place online, event organisers were keen for the culinary custom to continue.

Houghton pub The Beehive, in Sunniside, has now volunteered to fill the gap and hopefully plenty of stomachs by making the sandwiches.

Paul Lanagan, event co-ordinator and secretary of The Houghton Feast Trust, said: "When I heard that the Rotary Club were retiring their practice of ox roasting after an impressive 52 years’ of service, I knew the trust would have keep the unique tradition going.

"We made plans to roast a whole ox on Houghton Feast Saturday and bring back the full spectacle to the festival but the covid-19 pandemic put paid to that.

"Thanks to the Beehive, this alternative take on the event has ensured that the trust has safeguarded a local custom which has its origins in the Elizabethan times.”

A donation from sales will be made to the trust to help it hopefully hold a full ox roast next year.

The feast tradition recalls the Reverend Bernard Gilpin, a former Rector of Houghton, who would roast an ox or hog in the 16th Century to feed the area’s poor.

Councillor Kevin Johnston, chair of the Houghton Feast Steering Committee, said: “A big thank you to Jimmy and Linda Foley, from the Beehive, for accommodating this year’s ox sandwiches event and also to Paul Lanagan and Kevin Reilly, from The Houghton Feast Trust, for coordinating to ensure this ancient, traditional and much loved part of Houghton Feast is going ahead safely for the people of Houghton-le-Spring and the wider area to enjoy.”

The ox roast sandwiches go on sale on Saturday, October 3, 2020, at noon and must be pre-ordered by calling The Beehive on (0191) 5842867.

Further details about Houghton Feast at Home, which runs from Friday, October 2, to Sunday, October 11, are available from www.houghtonfeast.co.uk

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