Judging is underway for the Great Hamworthy Heating Bake-off with Samantha Boshier and Bob Walsh
The (oven) gloves were off on Wednesday August 28, as 23 members of staff competed for the title of ‘Best Baker’ in the inaugural Great Hamworthy Heating Bake Off.
With vouchers up for grabs donated by the five company directors, the cakes were judged in individual categories of brownies and biscuits, novelty cakes, cupcakes, large cakes and pies. The overall winner across all categories was awarded with a Hamworthy Heating branded apron and the honour of being the company’s first top baker.
After much tasting and deliberating, the directors picked the five hottest bakers; director Bob Walsh for his fleet boiler cake, Zoe Stephens in the service department for her ice cream cupcakes, Lucasz Kaminiecki in the factory for his apple crumble pie and Peter Heyward’s daughter Amy also representing the factory for her biscuits. A deliciously fluffy lemon drizzle cake not only won Yvette Smith from despatch the best large cake but also best overall baker.
After the prize giving, the cakes were available for employees to buy. The company matched the total raised by staff pound for pound and donated the £242.00 proceeds to its charity of the year, Forest Holme Hospice.
The remaining cakes were sold at the Forest Holme Hospice cake stand at Poole Hospital on Thursday 29 & Friday 30 August, manned by Hamworthy Heating marketing executive Sam Boshier and directors’ secretary Alison Morris, as well as Forest Holme volunteers. The cake sale raised a further £280.00 for the hospice, which is dedicated to caring for patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses.
Bob Walsh, technical director of Hamworthy Heating, said: “We want to thank everyone for participating in the inaugural Great Hamworthy Heating Bake Off. We were overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of the cakes and it was tough sampling them all but we do believe that the best bakers won in the end. The biggest winner though is Forest Holme Hospice whose patients will see the real benefit of our staff’s culinary skills.”
Events and corporate fundraiser at Forest Holme Hospice, Hannah Parsons, added: “A big thank you to everyone at Hamworthy Heating for taking the time to help with our cake stand and for raising these much needed funds for the hospice.”