World Custard Pie Championships in Coxheath, Maidstone

Those with a taste for slapstick humour will love this weekend's World Custard Pie Championships.

More than 2,000 messy servings will be thrown in jest in Kent this Saturday (June 1).

The event takes place at the village hall in Coxheath, Maidstone.

The championships were first started in 1967 to raise funds for facilities in the village.

The event is tinged with sadness this year as co-organiser Brian Mortimer, who organised the event with founder Mike FitzGerald since 2007, died last week. Organisers plan to pay tribute to Brian on the day.

The free fun day starts with a parade of the teams, all expected to be in fancy dress of some kind, at 2.30pm, before they take part in a knock-out contest which sees them awarded points for pie hits: a pie full in the face gets them six points, while anything hitting shoulder height and above gets them three points.

Among the teams this year will be two groups of contestants from France - The French Tarts and Custard Spies who are aiming to take the trophy back to mainland Europe.

There will also be a wet sponge challenge for under 16s.

The custard pie recipe is a closely-guarded secret, and one which was whipped up originally back in 1967 by then children's entertainer and personality Mr Pastry.