LAST weekend saw the Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage and Black Pudding Comp-etition. It was organised by the Yorkshire Confederation of Butchers Councils and took place in Bradford.

The number of entries was a record, with 87 in the speciality sausage section alone, and the judges, of whom I was one, were faced with a long series of difficult decisions. The winners of each of the sections derived a good deal of well-justified pride in the quality of their product. Winning in such company is a considerable achieve-ment.

A couple of years ago a local butcher, David Mounfield, from Bubwith, won the pork pie section. He proudly, and rightly, displays a picture of himself and one of the award-winning pies in his shop.

People everywhere are competitive. No doubt this goes back to some primeval urge or other, or just a need to avoid being killed by a rival who could run faster or who was more cunning.

These days the competitive urge is normally expressed as the fact that the company car in the drive is larger than the company car in the next drive and not by the fact that a rival's head is exhibited on Micklegate Bar. Most of us probably regard this as an advance. Especially since it might have been one's own head.

Competition manifests itself in many ways. Anyone who has been involved in a sports match between teams from rival villages or towns knows how important they can become.

Farmers look over their neighbours' hedges and say that their own wheat is better than his. Everyone likes to be complimented on the quality of his or her work in whatever area. Such compliments are especially sweet if they are independently judged and given in public.

Those of us whose work does not lend itself to being measured against the work of others often take part in other competitive activity. This is the time of year when the local chrysanthemum shows take place. The efforts put into the growing of the perfect bloom have to be seen to be believed. No doubt the experts can differentiate between the various qualities of the different flowers. Most of us would not know where to start.

Throughout the summer the agricultural shows, from the local village and town shows, to those with national and international reputations, have classes where all who have reached a qualifying standard can compete.

Such competition, whether for commercial advantage, for pleasure, or for a combination of both, improves the overall standards of the set from which the competitors emerge. The average is better. We see it throughout life, starting from school classes and going right through our lives.

Such a deeply rooted instinct as the competitive urge must be a basic need of mankind. It is more obvious in some than in others. It is part of a wish to differentiate ourselves from the next person, to establish our own identity so that we are remembered after our competitors are forgotten. Many of us find it quite difficult to be team players. We want to be out there in front, on our own.

Nevertheless most of us achieve our competitive successes as part of a team. Whether on the sports field or in the workplace we can make most difference when we work with a team. Even individual sportsmen need back-up to help them.

What we need to do, both in our private and work lives, is to harness the competitive urge so that although it benefits and satisfies the individual, it also improves the part of society in which each of us live.