Gone And Bun It

That's the giant hot cross bun cooked up by Rustington bakery Pegrum's and Littlehampton's Harbour Park amusement complex, which has been awarded the title by Guinness World Records.

News of the record-breaking bun's success was a cause for double celebration for Pegrum's managing director Paul Pegrum, who had his 50th birthday two days earlier.

Littlehampton mayor Wendy Squires presented the Guinness certificate to Paul, his main baker Simon Head, and Harbour Park's Pirate Pete.

Harbour Park approached Paul in March with the idea of baking the bun as a stunt to give Littlehampton some good publicity. And it paid off handsomely, with stories in the national press and regional television coverage.

The bun, baked just before the Easter weekend, weighed in a whopping 42 kilos more than 94lb and measured 1.303m across (48.5inch).

Said Paul: "We were all totally gobsmacked to hear we had got the record.

"It had been so long since we baked it, we thought we had missed out.

"We're really proud to have achieved this, it was a great effort by Simon and the team."

After going on display briefly at Littlehampton Museum, the bun came to the end of its shelf life and, sadly, had to be thrown away.

Pictured by Mick Canning, is Paul Pegrum, just under Pirate Pete's sabre, together with Simon Head and mayor Wendy Squires. Andy McTaggart, of Harbour Park, is in the background.