GIANT pumpkins from around the UK helped launched the York Maze Halloween family festival.

The North of England heat of the international Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth competition saw record-breaking pumpkin growers Ian and Stuart Paton from Hampshire add the North of England title to the South of England competition they won last week.

Their winning pumpkin in the York Maze competition tipped the scales at 1,738lb scooping the £500 top prize. Second place and £250 was won by Ben Watson from York with a respectable 256.8lb, third place with a prize of £100 and the heaviest pumpkin grown by a child awards went to Amelia Hart from Somerset with 102.5 lb. Amelia also picked up the award for prettiest pumpkin.

The event was filmed by BBC Blue Peter and will be broadcast on Thursday at 5.30pm.