A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go down, but one keen North Yorkshire baker has found a bite of something sweet helps the medics keep going as they combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Catherine Morland, from Knaresborough, has baked hundreds of cakes for key workers since the start of the lockdown.
She was in only her second day in a new job in the education department of Wetherby Young Offenders Institution when restrictions came into place and she was sent home, so she has been putting her time at home – when not looking after sons Luke, Elliott and Isaac – to good use.
Catherine said:
I have always baked, but now I have taken it up in huge batches. I started small baking for friends who are key workers, but I have a lot of friends who are key workers, so I’ve been doing 60 to 70 cakes a week.
She has baked for the NHS and emergency services, as well as for staff and children at North Yorkshire County Council’s No Wrong Door Hubs for residential staff and young people and the social work team and leaving care team in the west of the county.
Catherine said:
It makes me feel like I am doing something to help. The reaction has been lovely. I’ve had various people sending pictures of them in their scrubs and masks saying how much they appreciate it and how a little bit of sugar keeps them going.
Among Catherine’s confections have been brownies and rocky road, flapjack and peppermint slices and, of course, the cake of the moment – banana loaf.
Catherine said:
I have done all sorts. It had given me the opportunity to try some new recipes. We have chickens in our garden, so my lovely ladies have provided the eggs and in this sunny weather have been laying very well.
She also received a sack of flour from Goldsborough Hall, where she worked part-time before the pandemic, and friends have bought butter and sugar on their shopping trips.
Vicky Metheringham, the County Council’s head of service in the west and portfolio lead for the looked-after children, leaving care and youth justice service, said:
When I delivered the cakes and buns to the offices and to the No Wrong Door Hubs it really made their day. We have staff who have continued to support children and their families on a daily basis and so being able to take them a treat was a real privilege. We are so proud of the work they do each day.
