By RUSSELL BENNETT
THIS year, on St Patrick’s Day, four local ladies met to mark 35 years since they s-mashed the Guiness Book of World Records potato peeling record.
In order to break the record, they had to peel 189.14 kilograms of potatoes in 45 minutes using nothing but standard kitchen knives.
The original ‘famous five’ were Elanor Gardiner, Val McNulty, Joyce Mills, Phyllis Jennings and Margaret McDonald. Sadly, Phyllis has since passed away, but many memories were shared of their great feat in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall, where they peeled a staggering 266.5 kilograms in 35 minutes.
Four practice sessions were held before the big event, but the potatoes had been weighed and sealed before the start of peeling, and a chef from Myer was responsible to see that all of them had been properly peeled.
Hundreds of people gathered to watch, and they were well rewarded, with the peeled spuds handed out to the spectators after the event.
The ladies ran out of potatoes, so they will never know exactly how many they could have really peeled in their allotted time.
The peeling event was a great lead-up to the 1981 Potato Festival, which was an annual event to raise funds for the Westernport Hospital.
Margaret McDonald would like to thank George, the instigator of the original 3AW interview. For those who listened to it, the ladies didn’t eat potato pie that night but, rather, enjoyed a meal served up by the friendly staff at the Royal Hotel in Kooweerup.
