Great charity cake bake at Backwell

The icing on the cake at Backwell at the weekend was raising lots of money for a children's charity based in Romania.

The first annual Great Bristol Cake Bake was organised by mum Louise Harrison to help sick children in Romania called Noreen's Kids.

It was held at Backwell WI hall on Saturday afternoon 

The winners of the five categories were:

•  Pensioner Colin Harrison won the tastiest cake with a fabulous Lemon Drizzle cake;
• Sarah Patterson won the most beautiful cake;
• Backwell entrant Rachel Beckingsale won the best savoury bake;
• Lisa Denniss won the best cupcake; and 
• Jess Warburton, 12, won the best children's bake although all the children got prizes.

Louise's mum Pat Mann is a retired Yatton GP who has been travelling to Romania for 15 years with Children In Distress. 

When fellow volunteer and retired nurse Noreen O'Gorman decided to set up her own charity called Noreen's Kids, Pat decided to help her and has now become treasurer of the appeal.

Louise, aged 34, of Hilldale Road, said: "Noreen visited a few families where children were dying in their own homes with no palliative care and she decided to start her own charity and my mum decided to help her out."

Louise, a self-employed graphic designer, has raised nearly £3,000 for the charity through coffee mornings and fairs and now the cake bake has added another £500.

She said: "The baking was of an extremely high standard with some really visually stunning cakes and some extremely tasty ones. 

"The tastiest bake was the most popular category.

"We had some savoury bake contestants and the children's category was excellent, not to mention the beautiful cakes in the best-looking category. 

"Everyone had worked really hard and put in a lot of effort."

The judges were BBC Points West news presenter Alec Lovell; Frances Cooley, of Clifton Cakes and Noreen's Kids chairman Robin Dunn.

The trio did a very thorough job of judging and considered all of the entries and gave a glowing report to every winner explaining why they were chosen. 

Louise added: "Our entrants were very pleased with their prizes - we are so grateful to all prize donations, including prizes by Clifton Cakes, Cupcakes a la Carte, Bristol Zoo, Hollywood Bowl, Hestercombe Gardens, Clifton Relaxation Centre, Old Down Country Park, Noah's Ark zoo farm, American Museum, Brockley Farm Shop, Wookey Hole, Sheppeys Cider Farm, Clifton Kitchens and Jamie Oliver at Home. 

"The cake sale after judging was a roaring success and they were snapped up very quickly by eager buyers. 

"Some people had travelled quite a way to attend and we are very grateful to everyone who came for their support and interest in the event and the charity. 

"The children's activities were popular too we provided face-painting, biscuit-decorating and colouring-in fun.

"We also sold lots of hot drinks and cakes from our kitchen as well as selling Christmas cards and books, and Nicky Saunders, of Cool Kids Cookware, had a wonderful array of children's gifts and bakeware for sale.

"I would like to say a huge thanks to all my friends and family for mucking in too, they did a sterling job."