A 57-year-old Mayo man, Paul Cawley, has just won the 2014 prize for the biggest and best looking pair of cabbages in the annual Levenshulme Allotments Produce Show. The giant cabbages were planted on St Patrick’s Day and grew to an enormous 50 inches in circumference.
The civil construction worker, who now lives in Levenshulme, was born in Cloughbrack at the foothills of Nephin Mountain, just outside Lahardane in north Mayo. He was crowned as this year’s ‘Cabbage King’ for a record breaking 14th time. Mr Cawley received a special hand-knitted Cabbage King crown in recognition of his achievement, which was filmed by TV presenter Martin Logan of Irish TV. Manchester MP Sir Gerald Kaufman presented Mr Cawley with his award.
When asked about how he felt about winning the award for the 14th time Mr Cawley said: “I was delighted to receive the award, they were the biggest cabbages that I have ever grown. It was a great annual show and I enjoyed celebrating the victory, all my friends want me to start rearing pigs now so we could have a proper Mayo bacon and cabbage evening. Growing up on a farm in Mayo, I always enjoyed growing crops like cabbage, having the allotment in Levenshulme reminds me of my home in the west of Ireland.”
