Organisers of a long-established festival in Hitchin town centre are stressing its heritage – with an eye-catching Bayeux Tapestry-themed cover for a brochure which is being circulated in the town this weekend.

The 18th annual Pancake Festival, organised by Hitchin Priory Rotary Club in aid of Garden House Hospice, may not be able to claim to go back to the time of the Norman Conquest, but it has been a popular fixture in the town calendar for many years.

Saturday, February 6, will see the Fayre On The Square in Market Place, featuring a record number of stalls.

And Shrove Tuesday, February 9, will feature pancake races started by Hitchin MP Peter Lilley in the grounds of St Mary’s Church – this year the programme includes a wheelchair procession for residents from the town’s Highbury Rise Care Home, pushed by their carers. Extra copies of the festival brochure are available from the Hitchin Initiative offices at 27 Churchyard.