HIGH-FLYING sausages and refreshing beers brought crowds to the coast for the fun-filled Harwich Sausage Festival.

Organised by Tendring Camra, around 200 people attend the event on Saturday, which took place across the town’s Hanover Inn, New Bell Inn and Alma Inn.

There were 12 entries for this year’s festival from butchers across Tendring, with Becky’s Butchers, in Great Bromley, winning out after the public vote.

The highlight of the day for many however was the hotly contested sausage flinging competition.

Richard Oxborrow, one of the organisers, said: “This year’s festival was fantastic. The flinging itself was fantastic as well although we didn’t beat the record this year.

“This year’s winner was 154ft and 6ins which doesn’t exceed the record of 157ft.

“There were quite strong winds so it was challenging for the competitors - one of the sausages even hit a tree.

“It is sausages and beer so it is part of what we are here for.

“Butchers are in the same bracket as pubs and it is a challenging time for them too at the moment.

“We are really lucky in the area with the quality of butchers.

“We can only have 12 sausages each year and we are getting to the point where we are at capacity.”

Planning for next year’s event is set to begin in the coming weeks.