Gingerbread Bakeoff with Corbridge Pupils

We held our own version of a Christmas Bakeoff at Charlotte Straker House, with our residents competing for the title of Best Decorated Gingerbread House. We were helped by Corbridge Middle School pupils: Ava Greer (aged 10); Lucas Penny (aged 13); Lochie McVeigh (aged 10); and Beatrice Cleeve (aged 11) and Head Teacher Mrs Brown. They spent a happy afternoon up to their elbows in icing sugar, helping and chatting with our residents, whilst decorating the most amazing houses with lots of different sweets!

Our residents were delighted to see them, Arthur said “My helper Lucas was a very charming young gentleman. He was a very good house designer. He might be an architect when he’s older!” Nancy said “I enjoyed that very much. Ava and I were a good team.” Muriel said “Lochie is teaching me, I’m just watching and following along. He’s very good.” Margaret added “It’s lovely to see the children. My helper Beatrice was very precise and so polite.”

Mrs Brown, Head Teacher of Corbridge Middle School said “Lochie, Ava, Lucas and Beatrice were chosen to visit Charlotte Straker House as they’ve consistently upheld the values of our school through 2023. They thoroughly enjoyed their visit and I was so proud of their behaviour. Thank you to everyone at Charlotte Straker House for hosting us, the residents for being so welcoming and for the sweets and gingerbread house kits! We can’t wait to visit you again in 2023”.

Berenice Groves, our Chair of the Trustees judged the houses, and said “After a lot of deliberation I chose Lochie and Muriel’s design as the winner. I loved the delicate piping and careful placement of the sweets. Thank you so much to the children for visiting. Our residents love meeting children from local schools and I know everyone had an enormous amount of fun.”