A pair of twin brothers have smashed records by proudly growing the UK’s biggest pumpkin which weighed in at a whopping 2,593.7lb.
Ian and Stuart Paton, from Lymington in Hampshire’s New Forest National Park, have beaten the previous UK record of 2,433lb with their pumpkin which weighed in at heavier than two polar bears, but sadly narrowly missed out on the coveted world record by just 31lb.
The pumpkin was officially weighed at Pinetops Nursery in Lymington last weekend.
The brothers have long set their sights on breaking the world record – which is currently held by Belgian Mathias Willemijns with a 2,624lb pumpkin grown in 2016 – but although this year’s whopper didn’t make the cut, it still and smashed their previous UK title of 2,433lb.
During the pumpkin’s three-week growing peak, Ian and Stuart said their “incredible beast” was gaining around 51lb a day and they spent around six hours a day tending to it.
“We needed two forklifts to get it out of the greenhouse so we knew it was going to come close to the record. We didn’t quite break the world record this time around, but we are absolutely sure we will get there one day.
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“It is just a matter of time.
“We started growing pumpkins over 40 years ago, when our biggest weighed 54lbs, and it is absolutely incredible to think that the pumpkins we grow now can gain around that in weight each day.”
Incredibly, this pumpkin is just one of a crop of four 2,000lb-plus whoppers that the brothers have produced this year, with two of them set displayed at a local nursery for visitors to marvel at.
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Ian added: “Once we have grown the pumpkins, they are absolutely no good for eating so we always try to find a way they can be used to raise money for charity. We are not quite sure where the biggest will end up yet but we’re expecting to have lots of interest in the next week or so.”
The brothers also featured live on ITV’s This Morning earlier today to discuss their near world record-breaking attempt and showcase the world’s biggest squash in all its glory.
It is certainly impressive.
This isn’t new territory for the Patons though.
The twins have been growing pumpkins competitively for more than 20 years and have made no secret of their plan to take the world record for the largest ever pumpkin, with Ian saying: “We already have lots of ideas of things we will change and improve for next year,
“We have come so close this time that 2021 really could be the one.”
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The player celebrations from Stockport County’s League Two trophy presentation are glorious
Danny Jones
If you’re a Stockport County fan, you’ve had a very good year as the Hatters have just been crowned League Two champions and will be back in the English third tier next season – safe to say they’ve been making most of the trophy celebrations.
Players and staff very much included.
Edgeley was filled with flares and even people climbing on rooftops when they officially secured promotion back to League One for the first time in 12 years – the second time they’ve managed to go up in three seasons – and there was a great attendance in Stockport town centre for the bus parade.
But it was last week’s trophy presentation back at the stadium that produced some of the most memorable scenes, with County topping off a season of impressive and often high-scoring performances on the pitch with plenty more pageantry. Cue the music.
We still haven’t stopped laughing at Kyle Knoyle.
From bringing Isaac Olaofe’s ‘Tanto’s on fire!’ chant to life to hammering home puns on names like Fraser Horsfall, no matter how obvious, these are the kind of deeply unserious celebrations we expect from a trophy presentation.
County fan or not, you’ve got to admit it looks like a good party.
It’s moments like these that players, fans and staff work hard all season for; to prat around like muppets in front of their adoring supporters. They even got assistant coach, Clint Hill, in the mix and, as it turns out, he proved to be one of the biggest ring-leaders.
We sincerely hope the Hatters keep trickling out more of these party scenes as we know there’s plenty more that fans would love to watch back.
We’re still yet to see captain Paddy Madden, who won Player of the Month for April, and the gaffer himself, Dave Challinor, who has comfortably secured his legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats.
Challinor and the club have made no secret of seriously eyeing up the Championship and who knows what else at County’s momentum continues to build, especially with a huge stadium redevelopment kicking off soon.
What do you reckon, Hatters – do you reckon a third promotion could be on the cards?
Liam Gallagher says he’ll ‘gig in Lidl’ if Co-op Live still isn’t ready – and they sound pretty game for it
Danny Jones
Following the ongoing palaver with Co-op Live, Liam Gallagher has joked that he’d happily play his scheduled gigs in a Lidl if the arena still isn’t ready – at least we think he’s joking…
With Liam Gallagher having been named as one of the first acts booked to play Co-op Live last year, many are now wondering whether the venue will even by June, with the former Oasis frontman set to play four Definitely Maybe 30th-anniversary sets. That being said, he’s come up with a solution if not.
Vintage LG, we’ll give him that.
Obviously a bit of a tongue-in-cheek quip at the venue being sponsored by a supermarket and convenience store chain, it could have been any other competitor that the ever-witty youngest Gallagher brother picked but it somehow made it extra funny that he chose a budget brand like Lidl.
However, with the 51-year-old already having fun with stunts like voicing the tannoys on the Metrolink last year, for instance, we wouldn’t put it past him to take this joke a little further.
Better still, not that we’re getting carried away or anything but Lidl themselves seem pretty keen on the idea too; they even spent the time to build an entire setlist for the fictional show. Fair play.
Can you imagine? Liam Gallagher swapping the occasional tambourine shake for beeps from a barcode scanner as he moves back and forth on the conveyor belt. We know it’s absolute nonsense and we definitely shouldn’t be even remotely considering it… BUT it’s the stuff of dreams and strange things have happened.
A lot of stranger things have happened this week alone. As for the latest with Co-op Live, the Chairman and CEO of key-backers Oak View Group, Tim Leiweke, issued a full statement sharing his “sincere apologies”and insisting that they understand “there is work to be done to rebuild your trust in us.”
With the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Peter Kay, The Black Keys and more having their gigs pulled by the venue due to numerous issues, including an air conditioning unit falling from the ceiling, fans are understandably fearful that other upcoming events could face delays or general misfortune.
Much like the venue itself, we imagine we’ll be playing catch-up on this whole saga for the foreseeable, but here’s a recap of the story so far: