FIREFIGHTERS beat the police in a tug of war at a Harrow Times sponsored festival on Saturday.

The two emergency services squared up at the Roxeth Show on Saturday and put their professional reputations on the line for the impromptu test of strength.

The London Fire Brigade, who had to call in a second engine from Northolt to allow the contest to go ahead, came out smiling after winning two out of three rounds.

Organiser Juliette Davies, of the Harrow and Pinner Lions, said: “Normally the community police will have a tug of war against the kids but we thought it would be quite good fun to see, since we had the fire brigade there, if they would take on the fire brigade.

“We suggested it to them and they were a bit doubtful so we said ‘you know you win against kids but you won’t win against the fire brigade’.

“It was just one of those really impromptu moments that could only happen at the Roxeth Show.”

But the centre piece of the show was a major parade through the streets of South Harrow and into Roxeth Recreation Ground by pupils from every school in the HA2 area.

Hundreds of school pupils dressed in costumes based on the Olympics inspired theme “run, jump and fly” took part on Saturday, accompanied by a steel band, at 1.30pm on Saturday.

Julliete Davies “It’s lovely because they come around and parade right down through the showground and around the stalls.

“The costumes were lovely. They were all based on the run, jump and fly theme.”