WITH a red, white and blue theme to celebrate Independence Day, Tiptree's famous strawberry race went off with a bang.
On a dry but cloudy Thursday morning, around 100 pickers from all over the world donned colourful outfits as they harvested dozens of punnets of the world-renowned Little Scarlet strawberries, albeit much later than usual.
This year the race, on the 900-acre estate of famous jam maker Wilkin and Sons Ltd, was postponed until July 4 because the Little Scarlets were slow ripening because of the delayed summer.
But that did not stop the event raising a record £2,000 for the Essex Air Ambulance, and the strawberries were tastier than ever.
Ian Thurgood, joint managing director of Wilkin and Sons, said: "There's never been a strawberry race as late as Independence Day; it was great to see so many of the pickers entering into the spirit of the occasion.
"But the cold spring and the slow ripening produced fruit of exceptional flavour."
Prizes were awarded by actor Graham Cole, who starred as PC Tony Stamp in TV police drama The Bill for 25 years.
"We were delighted that television actor Graham Cole, a friend of our chosen charity Essex Air Ambulance, started the race and presented the prizes," said Mr Thurgood.
"When all the Little Scarlets had finally been weighed in and the prizes presented, Tiptree's pickers had raised a record £2,000 donation for the Essex Air Ambulance charity," he added.
Prizes were awarded for the best hat, the most flamboyant picker, and the fastest picker as people from across the globe, plus local farm workers and residents enjoyed the race for the seventh year.
In fact, Lotte Moeller travelled all the way from Sweden to research the strawberries for her new book before taking part in the race, while others came from Bulgaria and Poland.
But the winner of the most flamboyant picker award was Julie Eddington, 54, from Tolleshunt Knights much closer to home.
She said: "It was a really fantastic day with a lot of generous prizes, and the theme was great for me as I knew I had an outfit ready – I just needed a red vest.
"They are a friendly company that encourages people to get involved, I've been coming here for years and it's always a good day. There's a real mix of people young and old, with a lot of young people coming from abroad.
"It's not about the winning it's about everyone having fun and having a nice day out."
The Little Scarlets strawberry originated in North America and was brought to the UK in the late 1800s by the founder of Wilkin and sons, Arthur Charles Wilkin.
James Bond is noted as a Tiptree Jam admirer in Ian Fleming's 1957 novel From Russia With Love – being especially keen on the Little Scarlet strawberry variety.
