Baker’s sweet gesture for St Catherine’s

An award-winning baker and cake decorator is using her talents to support St Catherine’s Hospice with a bespoke confectionery creation for our 30th birthday celebration next month.

Andrea Ousby, who owns and runs Celebration Cakes and Sugar Craft from her Freckleton home, has designed an extra special cake which will be cut at the hospice’s 30th anniversary thanksgiving service on April 29th – 30 years to the day since day care first began at St Catherine’s.

Last month Andrea scooped gold and silver in the wedding cake category of the Cake International competition held at Event City in Manchester – the first contest of its kind she had ever entered!

When her accountant Tom Boardman read the news he got in touch to pass on his congratulations – and told Andrea about the Give A Gift campaign currently being run by St Catherine’s with support from the Lancashire Evening Post. The appeal is centred around 30 things the hospice would like the community’s help with in 2015, and one of the items on the list is an extra special 30th birthday cake.

Andrea said: “Tom asked if I’d be interested in making a cake for St Catherine’s and I said I’d be delighted to! I have put together a unique design which I will bake and decorate for the official 30th anniversary next month.

“The colour scheme is green and white, there will be three sponge tiers and it will be decorated with handcrafted sugar butterflies – the well-known and well-loved symbol of the hospice.

“I have worked for years in my kitchen with the saying ‘Life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away’ pinned to cupboard. It seems like an appropriate message to have on the cake too.”

Tom, from Penwortham, said he too was backing the hospice’s Give A Gift campaign and would be making a donation to cover the cost of a lock box – another of the items on the 30th birthday gift list. The box provides vital protection to the syringe drivers used to manage pain medication for patients staying on the in-patient unit.

He said: “Within a few days of reading about Andrea’s success I heard about the hospice’s Give A Gift campaign and when I saw one of the presents was a special birthday cake I knew she was the ideal person for the job!

“My wife and I are long-standing supporters of St Catherine’s – we play their lottery each week and collect loose change in their money boxes, as well as buying Christmas cards each year. As they celebrate such an important achievement, it feels nice to contribute towards their anniversary appeal.”

The cake will be displayed in all its glory at the hospice’s 30th anniversary service of thanksgiving, which will welcome supporters past and present who have been crucial in the founding and development of the charity over the years.

It takes place on April 29th – the feast day of St Catherine of Siena, and the date the hospice first opened its doors for day therapy back in 1985. Less than three months later on July 8th 1985 the in-patient unit was launched with 12 beds.

Andrea said she was delighted to be involved and happy to contribute towards such an important occasion.

“It’s nice to be able to help such a good cause and do something special for St Catherine’s,” she said.

“For me the best part of my job is seeing the looks on people’s faces when they see the finished product. I’m looking forward to presenting St Catherine’s with their own bespoke birthday cake and to joining in their anniversary celebrations.”

For more information about the Give A Gift campaign and how you, your business, school or organisation can get involved during our 30th year click here, email giveagift@stcatherines.co.uk or call 01772 695290.

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