Windmill Primary parents bake their way to success

Schools are used to celebrating pupils’ achievement and success – so it is a turn up for the books when it is the parents who end up winning an award. But that is what happened to the Friends of Windmill Primary School when their stall was named the best on display at the Wokingham May Fayre.

Their reward for their work was a certificate from the Mayor – with the added bonus of the stall raising £500 towards the group’s efforts to help the school library.

“It was a wonderful surprise but thoroughly deserved as the volunteers had been collecting items for the stall for the previous 12 months,” said the group’s chair Lynne Simmonds. “We were lucky enough to have two professional cake makers on the team who donated items for the day – they were absolutely stunning, and definitely helped attract attention to our stall as well as customers,” she explained.

And that may be the secret of how the Friends caught the eye of the Mayor whilst he was judging the competition. “After we’d set up, he came round and had a chat with myself and vice-chair James Baston, and he seemed particularly taken with the cakes,” she explained. “I was on the stall most of the day but whilst I was away on a lunch break, he
came back and presented the award to Kirsty Moors, who’s a school governor. We didn’t expect it at all, so it was a lovely reward."

No sooner had the team enjoyed their victory than work began on the next stall. “Our treasurer Elaine Brewster had one day off, and she’s already working on plans for next year,” said Lynne. “We're hoping to be at the Mayor’s charity fayre in December as well, so we’d better start thinking about Christmas cake recipes!”