THE World Black Pudding Throwing Championships take place in Ramsbottom at the weekend - where else?

It costs £1 to chuck three puddings to try to knock over a pudding stack, and it all sounds like a great way to have a laugh, relieve stress and raise money for charity.

Its origins are equally amusing. Legend suggests that during the War of the Roses, both sides ran out of ammunition and began lobbing black puddings and Yorkshire puddings at each other instead.

There is no record of casualties, but I suspect the puddings suffered the most.