Chemistry lessons and mince pies combined for an annual competition at Ilkley Grammar School.

Mince pies made by the students were judged by the expert tasters from the The Box Tree restaurant and Bettys Café Tearooms. The judges were said to be impressed by the results. The competition is organised by the school’s chemistry department, and they came up with a novel twist for the competition’s name.

They called it The ‘MnICe PIEs CoMtPITiON’, managing to combine the chemical symbols for various elements on the periodic table. As all competent chemists will know, this includes the symbols for manganese (Mn), iodine (I), cerium (Ce), phosphorus (P), einsteinium (Es), cobalt Co), meitnerium (Mt), titanium (Ti), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N).