With today being Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday), we thought it best to get the public into the spirit of the pre-Lent festival.

We asked people in Strand Street, Douglas, how they had their pancakes and what the occasion is like in their households.

Daughter and mother, Jennifer Sandell and Pat Murphy, from Ballabeg, talked about their pancake day plans.

Daughter Jennifer said: ‘We make a big plate full of pancakes. Mum makes the mixture.’

Pat said: ‘I like a squirt of lemon and sugar, nothing else, no jam, peanut butter, nothing.

‘I like maple syrup but we don’t put it on them, just lemon and sugar.’

Jennifer added: ‘We just have pancakes for tea, we don’t have it for pudding.’

Pat said: ‘We’d have about three or four each for our tea on Pancake Tuesday.’

Pancake Day for Amanda Norman is steeped in family tradition.

Amanda, from Douglas, said: ‘Definitely lemon and sugar. I don’t do Nutella, maybe maple syrup, but no chocolate or banana.’

We asked Amanda what type of pancake was the best.

She said: ‘Somewhere between a crepe and a scotch pancake.

‘You have to eat the first one because the pan is still getting hot and the rest you put in the oven to keep them warm.

‘You also do the mixture the day before and leave it to stand, this is from Nana Teare.’

Pancake Tuesday is followed immediately by Ash Wednesday in Roman Catholic culture, which marks the start of Lent.

We asked some of the people if they were going to give up something for lent.

Amanda said: ‘This year I may try and give up swearing, not that I swear a lot but I have a one-year-old grandson now.

‘I don’t swear around him but he’s at mimicking age now so it only has to happen once.’

Tim Lonergan, from Douglas, will be celebrating Pancake Day with his three kids.

He said: ‘My favourite topping is sugar and lemon juice, but the kids like whipped cream and maybe a bit of chocolate spread.

‘It’s got to be thin pancakes and also rolled up.’

We asked Tom if he’s tried to give up anything for Lent, he said: ‘I’ve tried to give up smoking and drinking in the past but there’s no chance.

‘I remember we used to do things like flipping the pancake and pancake races in school. It was a big deal when I was at school.’

Partners Cheryl Baguley and Stewart Fernley, from Castletown, also talked to us.

Cheryl said: ‘I like lemon and sugar, and I’m sure there are other nice combinations.’

Stewart said: ‘I like chocolate, and maybe a little bit of cream and a few strawberries, double cream of course, otherwise it’ll drip out over the edges and you wouldn’t want that. I used to do the scotch pancakes but that was when I was a kid, that was years ago on the Rayburn at home.’

Cheryl said: ‘We don’t participate in Lent, but quite a few people give up alcohol and some people give up chocolate, which is really hard.

‘You do all that hard work and then at the end there’s a mass of it [on Easter Sunday].’

Stewart added: ‘I used to be a master brewer, so I couldn’t have done that.’