A GRANDMOTHER who worked in a chippy for over 30 years has won a place on an elite pie-testing panel.

Following a month-long search for new tasters of Holland’s Pies, Catherine Quigley was chosen as one of six candidates, beating over 500 hopefuls.

The 57-year-old, of Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, will get to review pies and puds every six months at Holland’s headquarters in Baxenden, alongside five other tasters from the North West.

As a child the mum-of-four supported her parents, Charlotte and Joe Smith, by working behind the counter wrapping chips at their fish and chip shop in Burnley.

Mrs Quigley, who will get 54 pies to take home after every meeting, said: “I hope I have done credit to my mum and dad. It’s a special tribute to their livelihood.

"I used to serve customers and that’s how I learned everything about Holland’s pies.”

“It was a nice moment to get a place on the panel and really nostalgic for me.”

The chippy, Charlotte and Joes, opened in 1964 at the junction of New Hall Street and Abel Street and the family lived in a house behind it.

The grandmother-of-five helped run the shop later in life serving customers traditional fish and chips and Holland’s pies and puds, the store’s main supplier.

She did this just before moving to Clayton-le-Moors, with her husband, Anthony, in 1988.

Her parents’ chippy was demolished on the eve of the shop’s 40th anniversary in the early 2000s.

It came following Burnley Council’s plans to regenerate the area in Daneshouse with new housing.

Inspired by the work of her 86-year-old dad and late mother, the former pupil at St Hilda’s girls school, Burnley, entered the competition to join the panel after reading about it in a local newspaper two months ago.

Helen Henry, the company’s chief pie-ologist, said: “We had over 500 entries for these six coveted roles on the pie panel, but Catherine’s really stood out.

“Her passion for Holland’s and memories of steaming puds in her parents chippy decades ago, put smiles on the faces of our panel panellists.”