Ian Murray, Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South and Mike Crockart, MP for Edinburgh West , had pancake flipping fun this week as the MPs team were crowned winners of the annual Rehab Parliamentary Pancake Race after battering the competition in one of the country’s most popular pancake showdowns.
The event, which took place in Westminster in front of a bumper crowd of spectators, saw cross-party representation on teams of MPs and Lords, who along with a team from the Parliamentary Press Gallery, competed in an exciting relay pancake race.
The race raises valuable funds and awareness of the work undertaken by Rehab which transforms the lives of people with disabilities and others who are marginalised by enabling them to become more active and independent, play a full part in their communities and maximise their potential. Its services support a wide range of people, including those with brain injuries, spinal injury, mental health difficulties, physical or learning disabilities, as well as long term unemployed young people or adults in the areas of skills training, employment and job retention. It also provides community rehabilitation, health and social care and supported living services.
The competition to be crowned the race champions was fierce, and tensions ran high amongst each team as participants ran flat out to batter the opposition. Hot on the heels of the MPs’ team was the Lords team who came in second place with the media team coming a close third.
Joining the race for the first time as Official Starter and Race Scrutineer was Sky News presenter, Lorna Dunkley, who said:- “It was clear that each team was serious about winning and it was tough trying to ensure everyone was on their best parliamentary behaviour and even harder to stop them battering their rivals. I had been warned to expect plotting, skullduggery and chaos at this year’s Parliamentary Pancake Race. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, there was all of that and more!
“My congratulations to the winners who demonstrated Olympian levels of determination, focus and the will to win in what was an incredibly competitive and closely-fought contest. Of course, the pancakes were not so tasty at the end and were pretty battered and bruised, but it was all for a great cause in raising awareness and funds for Rehab which does great work in supporting thousands of people to achieve their dreams.”
Angela Kerins, Chief Executive of Rehab, said:- “I would like to congratulate the MPs on their win, but I would also like to thank everyone for taking the time to take part – this year was certainly the biggest turnout of participants yet and it’s fair to say that the competition has never been so intense! Certainly, we feel in hosting the race that we play a valuable part in supporting parliamentary peacekeeping efforts, with members from all political persuasions engaging in what is a unique team-building exercise. Thanks to the support of Parliament and the media, as well as our generous donors, we can continue to make a real difference to the lives of people through our range of innovative and high-quality health and social care, training, education, and employment services.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
