Peterborough bus depot holds Bake Off competition in aid of ‘hugely important charity’

Bus drivers, inspectors and staff members at a Peterborough depot have announced a winner of a ‘Bake Off’ style competition they held recently to raise money for a children’s charity.

The warm-hearted colleagues at the Stagecoach East depot on Lincoln Road baked cakes and other sweet-treats on behalf of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.

The charity’s mission is to provide specialist nurses and support for seriously ill children living with complex, lifelong conditions.

Unsurprisingly, many of the entries in the bus depot Bake Off competition followed a bus theme, with the ‘bus-coff’ cakes and ‘busman's brownies’ being particular highlights.

Other entries included beetroot and espresso brownies, multi-coloured fairy cakes, everlasting gobstoppers, and a James and the Giant Peach cake.

After a great deal of diligent tasting and a thoroughly democratic vote, the everlasting gobstoppers were finally declared the winner.

The winning baker was operations manager, Hayden Mustafa.

A humble victor, Hayden said “I could not be more proud of everyone for their efforts in baking and raising money for this hugely important charity.”

He continued: “It has been an outstanding effort by our talented and generous colleagues to give up so much of their time, skills, and money to support an extremely worthwhile cause.”

And the Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity is certainly that.

As a charity that works in partnership with the NHS, it tries to find ways to ensure all seriously ill children – and their families – receive the care and support they need. It does this by improving the healthcare outcomes and resilience of children and families, focussing on complex, lifelong conditions that are, sadly, often underfunded and under-resourced.

“Sadly, there can be very few of us who have not been touched by the serious illness of someone close to us,” Hayden noted, “and when that person is a child, the situation is all the more painful.

“Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity’s vision is that every seriously ill child should have one of its specialist nurses to help them to lead the best life they can.

“If we have played a small part in helping to turn that vision into reality, then we are delighted.”