DEDICATION paid off for Michael Taggart who travels over 60 miles each December to try and buy Hexham Mart's biggest turkey in their Christmas poultry sale.

For Michael (24) and his granddad Len (77) beat off the competition to take home a real bruiser weighing in at a whopping 25lb (or 11.36kg).

Michael, who had taken the day off work to travel up from Seaton Sluice near Whitley Bay, has been coming to the annual poultry sale at Hexham since he was a child.

"I've been coming since I was a kid of about eight years old and I like it better than Christmas Day," he said. "I look forward to coming up every year though sometimes you can't get anything - it depends on the price.

"There'll be eight to 10 of us for Christmas dinner. But there's always loads left, so we'll be having turkey sandwiches, turkey and chips, curried turkey and turkey soup for days after."

Last year he and Len went home a little disappointed, though not empty-handed, after missing out on the biggest bird.

But last Wednesday, they triumphed with a fabulous festive fowl costing £60, consigned by Richard Storrow and Sons of Willimoteswick Farm, near Bardon Mill.

The Storrow family, who have been at Willimoteswick for 176 years, is well known in the Tyne Valley for the quality of its turkeys come Christmas.

Indeed Richard once reared a record 65lb bird which made the front page of the Hexham Courant's Christmas edition in 1994 with his son, Callum, then only three, sitting next to it.

Hexham and Northern Marts company secretary Brian Rogerson, who brought down the hammer on this year's turkeys, ducks and geese, said he was very pleased with the day's trading which saw around 100 eager buyers.

"It's gone very well and I'm quite happy with it," he said. "I think the great thing is people know where their birds are from when they come to the sale and a lot of people come and buy from the same consigner every year because they know how well the birds are reared and how well they eat."

Prices on the day for turkeys ranged from £19 for a 6lb 7oz turkey to the £60 paid by the Taggarts.

Mr Rogerson did not invest this year however. "My wife and I are going away to a cottage for Christmas, so we've decided to have beef for a change."