I can't quite believe we are a quarter of the way through the year already - and it's been a whirl of activity at the Bakery!
In February - we celebrated the very first National Stottie Cake week - with stottie sarnies being served on lumo trains - London to Edinburgh, free baking kits for schools, poetry, creative writing sessions, stottie cake trail with bakeries, cafe's, restaurants and businesses across Newcastle- a world-wide free live stream stottie bake, and a life sized Scotty the Stottie meeting people across the City to boot! Feedback has been amazing and we are hoping this will become an annual event.
Also, thanks to support from the National Lottery we were able to provide baking and creative sessions available to everyone. These included free baking sessions for ex army veterans via Walking with the Wounded, people suffering from Dementia including early onset dementia and their carers). We also were able to offer free creative writing sessions and free printing workshops to people who wouldn't be able to afford these creative opportunities - and also paying artists to deliver these sessions. A free lunch from Big River Bakery was provided for everyone at each of these sessions. Feedback has been fantastic - with these sessions helping people's mental health, wellbeing, social isolation issues and the chance to do something different.
I couldn't write this update without mentioning the sad loss of Dave Myers - what a true gentlemen and ambassador for local food with Si King - what these guys did for our business was amazing and Dave's legacy will live on.
Through January - March - with your support - we have also been able to provide:
425 free meals (including hot drinks) to those in need / homeless
325 free Wednesday lunches
570 free breakfasts to schools
270 free creative / baking places
8 x free Kindness Cookies
We have launced a cost of living crowdfunder to help us raise money to help us keep supporting others in need - you can donate here if you are able to. Even £1 can go a long way.
We have now launched new dates for all of our baking courses and we are also posting out pease pudding UK wide (due to popular demand!)
Thank you all once again - from The Big River Bakery team x