Huge crowds turned out at Bacup cricket club in Lancashire on the August bank holiday Monday for the World Gravy Wrestling Championships, an event that has grown into a quirky fixture of the British summer since it began in 2007. Contestants, many in elaborate fancy dress, took part in two-minute wrestling bouts in a ring filled with around 1,500 litres of gravy, with the spectacle also serving as a fundraiser for East Lancashire Hospice and charities of the competitors' own choosing.

The gravy, enough to accompany 15,000 Sunday roasts, is produced by The Real Lancashire Black Pudding Company, owned by Andrew Holt, using a recipe originally passed down from his grandmother. Three different thicknesses are made and blended in the ring, then topped up throughout the competition to keep consistency the same for every wrestler. A four-judge panel scored competitors on wrestling ability, costume and crowd reaction, with entrants dressing as characters including the Grinch and Ali G.