A CATERER from Menston has walked away from a national convention with an upper-crust award.

Christine Naylor of Bradford Road, proudly took possession of a gold trophy for the best Added Value Product in a convention organised by the Meat and Livestock Commission.

Miss Naylor has run her own business, Menston Catering Services, for eight years, and her popular pies feature on the menus of a number of pubs in the area.

Her winning product at the convention, which took place at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, last week, was a Beef en Croute pie, made with a whole fillet steak.

She took gold award in regional rounds of the competition in recent years, before impressing even the toughest judges in the final.

She said: "At the moment, I'm walking four feet off the ground. I'm just very proud of what I've done."

Organiser Mark Bannister, from British Meat, said: "The national awards for excellence are the perfect showcase for the best independent butchers in the country. The awarding of platinum certificates highlights the superior quality of the products entered and the category winner's products are some of the best available in the country."

Miss Naylor had to provide two pies as part of her entry, one raw pie, and one cooked. The judges then examined the pies' filling, pastry and meat content.

She also entered two other pies - a meat and potato and a steak and stilton pie - in other categories of the competition.

Her pies have often won prizes in local produce shows, including the annual Menston Show.

Another award-winner was the popular Otley butchers Geo Middlemiss & Son of Market Street.

Their turkey and ham pie, created by Peter Middlemiss, received a prestigious Platinum Award.

Judges were asked to mark entrants on a variety of criteria, including texture, taste, appearance and filling. The Middlemiss' pie received an almost perfect 99 points out of a possible 100, with the judge commenting that it "looked and tasted good".

The solitary penalty point was deducted for the pie's glaze, but the shop's proprietor Anthony Middlemiss was not going to let that detract from his creation's prize.

"They are very good pies, we are pleased with them and the performance of all our products in competitions.

"Usually we win with our sausages, but someone is obviously catching us up this year!"

This achievement follows on from success for the same pie in the North Eastern regional meat technology awards in Utrecht, Holland, last year.