A Burnham-On-Sea grandmother has made hundreds cakes for Bristol Royal Infirmary doctors and nurses plus local keyworkers at Burnham’s ambulance station, fire station and the Royal Mail sorting office.
Sue Clarke, 70, whipped up the lemon drizzle, chocolate and vanilla and raspberry cupcakes for staff at the infirmary as a thank you for their hard work in the fight against coronavirus.
Sue, along with her daughter Marie, have also been baking larger cakes for the BRI weekly since the beginning of April.
The pair have thanked Westcroft Eggs and Rich’s Cider Farm for donating flour, eggs, icing and caster sugar, and Sue and Marie say they would ‘really struggle’ without their support.
They have unfortunately lost their means of getting the cakes to the BRI so need to find an alternative and would be interested to hear from anyone local able to help.
Sue says: “We made 96 cupcakes this week as well as eight larger cakes the week before last.”
“We’ve been baking for the BRI all month and we’ll be making cakes every week until lockdown ends, and may continue after that.”
“We just wanted to do something, and the only way we know how is to perhaps put a bit of sweetness in their lives by making cakes.”
Sue and Marie are baking household favourites to use up cake boxes bought for mobile coffee house Doris The Vintage Caravan, owned by Sue’s daughter Donna and her best friend Jayne.
The pair say the company will not be able to use the boxes due to Government lockdown restrictions on non-essential businesses opening and have instead decided to give back to NHS frontline staff.
Sue added: “We normally bake on a Tuesday for around five hours, and my daughter Marie buys all the ingredients with our weekly shop and cleans up for me.”
“We want to say the biggest thank you to the NHS for all their hard work and commitment and thank you Rich’s Cider and Westcroft Eggs, we would really struggle without your support.”
Sue said BRI nurse Samantha Leach asked if she is a professional baker as the cakes ‘taste amazing’.
Samantha said: “It has been a challenging time for everyone but we do it for our team and patients.
“It’s the kind things, like what Sue has done, that keep us going and really puts a smile on everyone’s faces. The team really do appreciate the thought and time that’s gone into making the cakes, which taste amazing.”
She is also keen to get nominations of local frontline essential keyworkers who should receive boxes of cupcakes as a token of gratitude for contactless collection from Burnham. Tag someone in the comments on social media, say where they work, and Sue will randomly pick someone and get in touch with them.
