Young and old alike can have oodles of fun in tossing the batter confection and seeing if will land back in the pan and not on the floor!
Sweet or savoury, there’s plenty of options for topping – from the traditional lemon and sugar to jam to ice cream and hot chocolate sauce or how about wrapping a pancake around meat or veg, baking it in the oven then slathering it in grated cheese?
Over the years Derbyshire has been home to impressive pancake races, not least the famous one in Winster which is believed to be the oldest in the country. It’s a mystery as to how old the Shrove Tuesday event in the Derbyshire Dales village is but one theory suggests that it may have been started in 1870 by Llewellyn Jewitt who lived at Winster Hall.
Here are our favourite pancake photos from the archives to take you down memory lane.
If you enjoyed these retro photos, have a look at: Tramtracks, ABC and Planet X - Chesterfield's Cavendish Street and Stephenson Place down the years
1. All set!
Gillian Haslam, Andrew Haslam, Julie Hunt ,David Truscott, Teresa Solley, Chris Townsend, Bethany Truscott and Katie Haslam (front) at a pancake party at Brampton Gospel Mission in 2012. Photo: Bernard Jones
2. MDB090224a2 Pancake day: Alton manor day nursery Gregorys way Belper. Oliver Marquis, Megan Lownes and Lauren Tomlinson.
Oliver Marquis, Megan Lownes and Lauren Tomlinson at Alton Manor day nursery in Belper in 2009. Photo: Brian Eyre
3. Two-handed task
Bridget Concannon 7, Paula Watts, 9, and Donna Shimwell, 8 before their race at the annual Winster pancake races in 1980. Photo: JPIMedia
4. Running mates
Action from the pancake day races in Winster in 2007. Photo: Paul Robinson