Well - where is this year going? It's already August - and I'm behind on my blogging. Better late than never I say. Here is a summary of the work we have been doing in the community over the last couple of months.
June / July saw us working closely with Christchurch primary school - offering free baking sessions for the children based on the curriculum. We ran 5 sessions for about 40 children. We made Pirate themed crispy buns with Year 1 (Pirates & seaside theme) ...
- Cardamom biscuits with Year 2 (India)...
and date & honey cookies (Egypt) with year 3. We had some lovely drawings too...
We also hosted some free community bakes with the Crafty Lasses & Skills for People - proud stottie cake bakers....
And we supported a subsidised stottie cake baking course for the young people of Gateshead Youth Council
In July we worked with Northumbria Water - hosting a Live Stottie Baking 'Bake Off' with the fabulous Si King at their Innovation Festival.
We launched the very first Stottie Cake Olympics (there's a theme going on here somewhere!) at Wylam Summer Fair and the Ouseburn Festival - lot's of fun :-)
July also saw a visit of North East royalty - Robert (Bob) Olley Robert Olley Artwork – Robert Olley - North East Artist & Sculptor with the Dunn family gifting a picture to be used by the bakery entitled 'The Stottie' . It was originally commissioned from Bob by Greggs as a raffle prize to commemorate their 100th Million stottie. Maureen Dunn won the prize and the Dunn family presented us with the picture and 10 signed copies by Bob (you may recognise Andrew Dunn - North east actor - Dinner Ladies etc). Signed copies will be auctioned at a later date to help raise money for our projects. Watch this space!
I think that's probably a good flavour of June - July for you.
For those interested in numbers - here's how we have helped the local community over June - July - all with your support - so a big THANK YOU once again to you all x
Breakfasts to local schools = 350 = £700
Meals for homeless = 136 = £1020 (£680 in donated £5 cards) - the need has quadrupled since the beginning of the year
Wednesday free food for all - 160 portions -£280
Free Community Baking -8 sessions - £1780
Free Kindness Cookies - 9 x £10 = £90
Plus we endeavour to keep the products in our shop as low and affordable as possible.
Have a great summer... well - at least the plants are enjoying it! And hope to see you all soon.
Love from The Big River Bakery Team xx