Pierate's Birmingham Pie Night for Charity 2017

We're now just a couple of weeks away from our blog's eighth birthday (which we've named International Pierate Day), and with that in mind we have some very exciting news to share:

Some tickets are still available for our Birmingham Pie Party with a "star baker" and top rated pies on 11th Nov!

The motley crew from our Pie Contest 2013

Yes, on Saturday 11th November from 4:30-7pm we'll be welcoming Great British Bake Off Series 6 star Sandy Docherty and the pies from our number 1 pie maker (out of over 625 pies rated on our blog) - MyPie!

Sandy, for those who don't follow GBBO (or whose memory is a little hazy!), was the contestant who referred to her home baking in episode one with words to the effect of "everything I bake at home seems to turn into a pie!" And for some reason, that seemed to really strike a cord with us on the Pierate Ship!!!

MyPie pies at the 2015 Pie-rty

No surprise then that Sandy immediately became our favourite of that series, despite some real competition from man of many homemade cooking aids Ian, the king of the jungle Paul and series winner Nadiya (who you may remember had the privilege of then cooking the Queen's birthday cake!) You can reminisce on all the bakers from Series 6 here in their pre-show BBC Bios or read up on Series 6 on Wikipedia!

Back to Sandy and she said back in her pre-show bio that "she bakes to show her family, friends and colleagues that she cares about them" - which is a great outlook on baking and we look forward to her bringing some of her baking magic with her when she brings some pies to our pie party and chats a bit about life in the tent and what she's up to these days. We were gutted that Sandy was eliminated before the week when the bakers all had to make a game pie, but can't wait to try her pies for real - not just drool over our TV screens!

Just take a look at some of the pie pictures Sandy has tweeted us:

The journey of @Theakston1827 ale and @FodderHarrogate steak pies @pierateers pic.twitter.com/hu8LWeWJyE

— SANDY DOCHERTY (@SANDYDbakes) 12 March 2017

Short crust lamb shoulder and veg pies, just need gravy. Happy Sunday everyone. X pic.twitter.com/LPpJepzNOD

— SANDY DOCHERTY (@SANDYDbakes) 26 February 2017

Of course us Pierateers are no stranger to the Great British Bake Off either, as our first TV appearance came on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice when we made a Crocodile Pie rated by none other than celebrity chef Michel Roux Jnr!

So while we had a break last year, we're delighted to once again be following the tradition of 2013, 2014 and 2015 in having a Pierate Birthday Pie-rty with friends and colleagues in just a few weeks time! For those wondering what it will be like, here's our review from our 5th Birthday Pie-rty three years ago.

Pie maker Chris with Pierateers Sam, Tim and Rob

Yes, like in 2015, we've once again gone straight to the top of the Pie Rankings to find a Pierate Highly Recommended pie maker to supply the pies at our eighth Birthday Pie Party, with Chris' Steak and Ale Pie our current number 1 at 6.61/7! And we'll have a top vegetarian pie option too.

And what's more, Chris has kindly agreed to donate the pies to us for a charitable donation, with £10 of the £12.50 ticket price going to charity Action Against Hunger. It'll be a busy week for Chris, as alongside baking the pies for our pie party, he's also opening up a pop up on the Southbank in London that week!!

We've still got a few tickets available, so to enquire about ticket availability to book your place at our Birmingham Pie Night in South Birmingham, please email pierateship@yahoo.co.uk with your order (Steak and Ale or Vegetarian pie). For your £12.50 ticket, you'll get to attend the Q&A with Sandy from GBBO (from 4:30-5:15) followed by your MyPie, mash and veg, plus a selection of homemade fruit pies people bring along (5:15-7:00). And if you bring a homemade pie with you - which will be judged by our star baker and the Pierateers - you will get a £2.50 discount on your ticket! Let us know if you're planning to bring a homemade fruit pie!

As you can imagine, we can't wait for our next Pie Party on Saturday 11th November and we hope to see some of you there!!

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised. Make sure you Follow @pierateers and let us know your thoughts!