St Edmund

Mary and Charlie help with the cooking

Every year primary school children in Southwold enjoy a special treat to celebrate St Edmund's feast day.

They leave their classrooms and make their way to St Edmund's Church in the town where they get a sticky bun. It's all part of an ancient tradition which died out after the Second World War but was revived in 1988.

"The children really enjoy the sticky treat and they also learn more about the life and martyrdom of the former king of East Anglia," says headteacher Richard Turner.

"The grisly story of St Edmund's death fascinates the pupils as they listen to how he came to a sticky end, pierced with arrows."

This will be the fourth year local grandmother Pat Baggott has been making the buns for the big event. She uses her own special recipe which she's kindly allowed BBC Suffolk to reveal so that others can make the buns. She made 130 last year.

Charlie enjoys his sticky bun

Pupils Mary and her grandson Charlie clearly love eating the buns and this year, for the first time, they've been allowed to help Pat make them.

"St Edmund was clever, brave and very good," Pat says. "We think they're called sticky buns because poor St Edmund came to a very sticky end with lots of arrows in him."

Sticky bun recipe

Here is the recipe for St Edmund's Buns. You must eat them on the day because there are no preservatives in them:

1-and-a-half lbs flour
1-and-a-half teaspoons of salt
2 oz of butter
2 teaspoons of mixed spice
3 oz Sugar
4 oz sultanas
1/2 pint tepid milk
1/4 pint of tepid water
1 oz of yeast

Mix together and then place small portions of the dough onto a baking tray.

Allow to rise in a warm place until nearly double in size. Then bake in a preheated oven at 300 to 350 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until brown.

Cover with sugar solution and enjoy! Best eaten warm.