Competition queen Lynne Rielly is tasting even more success – after winning a year’s supply of mouth-watering crumpets.
Village Bakery crumpet competition; Pictured Tom Kellaway from Village Bakery with winners Nigel and Lynn Rielly
Lynne, 56, from Flint, came out on top in a Leader competition that was run in conjunction with the award-winning Wrexham-based Village Bakery.
She and husband, Nigel, also 56, are big fans of the company’s signature crumpets and their other products which are sold at a host of independent stores and supermarkets across the UK.
Between them the couple have four children and four grandchildren and they promised to share them out with the family.
A poem extolling the virtues of the Village Bakery crumpets clinched the competition win for Lynn
She said: “I love the Village Bakery crumpets, they are the best on the market by a mile. They’re really nice.”
Lynne, who works with disabled children, caught the competition bug at the age of 19 when she won a holiday with Haven which she went on with her sister.
She said: “I enter hundreds of competitions a week. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink and my hobby is doing competitions and I win lots of them.
“We’ve won loads of holidays. About five years We went to Jersey which included the flight and we stayed in the 5 star Michelin guide Grand Hotel in St Helier in Jersey.
“It’s where the Queen stayed when she went to Jersey herself. hotel. That was about 5 years ago. It’s where the Queen stayed when she went to Jersey herself.
“We had a hire car and a pass to all the attractions on the island. We had champagne when we got there. All the meals were included. It was fantastic. We were treated like royalty. It was wonderful.
“We’ve only just won two tickets for a Manchester United game at Old Trafford and £100 to spend as well. That was with Cadbury’s in Tesco.
“We’ve had holidays all over the country. We’ve been all over the place. We’ve been to Scotland and I went with my sister to Turnberry where we stayed at the famous golf club resort. It’s very posh.
“We’ve also won two trips to London in one day, both with Virgin Trains.
“We were going away for the weekend and I opened a letter and the letter said ‘Congratulations, you’ve won a holiday with Virgin Trains going to London’.
“I put the letter on the table when we arrived at the holiday and the phone went and the lady said I’d won a Virgin Trains holiday. I said I knew, that I’d read the letter and she said that she hadn’t posted it yet.
“The letter I’d had was about the previous week’s competition and she said ‘you’ve won this week’s as well’.
“We’d won two weeks in succession and had two trips to London. We had a wonderful time.
“We stayed in a hotel in London called Hotel 51. It’s very posh and we had a butler. You could actually lean out of the window and touch Buckingham Palace, it’s that close.
“It’s where the royalty stay, barons and all sorts, when they’re visiting London, especially when they go to see the Queen.
“Nigel’s had a made to measure bespoke suit made for him He’s had a suit made for him and in another competition we won a can of beer every day for a year, 365 cans.
“I think the most unusual thing we have won was a chaise longue for the cat.
“I always enter as many competitions as I can but the one I really like are the ones like this one where I wrote a poem.”
Nigel, who retired due to ill-health from his job at Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port, was equally delighted with winning the crumpets.
He said: “My only problem is that that I can’t work out the secret of eating them without the butter going down the side of your mouth, so I’ll just have to keep practising for the next year!”
Village Bakery account manager Thomas Kellaway presented the first batch of the 52 packets of crumpets to Lynne and Nigel.
He said: “It was lovely to meet them. Their love of our crumpets came through loud and clear in the lovely poem Lynne wrote. She was a very deserving winner.”
Ode to the crumpet
Village Bakery are the Best,
My Family always boast,
That Village Bakery Crumpets,
Are the ones we love the most.
When toasted they are crispy,
But nice and soft inside,
Myself, I find the best bit,
Is the secret that they hide.
They are full of little chimney’s,
That keep the butter in,
You take a bite, then lick your lips,
As it dribbles down your chin.
Crumpets are for Breakfast,
Crumpets are for Tea,
And the Crumpets that taste best of all,
Come from Village Bakery.
