Bakers Company

Education & Industry

The Bakers' Company, both directly and with partners, plays an active part in baking industry education in all its forms, to help create rewarding careers for people of all ages.

The three main thrusts are:

  • Through schools and colleges, to introduce baking as a career option, encouraging young people into the profession.
  • To support young people in main stream bakery education
  • To promote training events for both students and individuals working in the industry who are seeking to improve their craft skills. 

Examples of the Company's work can be found in schools, colleges, bakery businesses, allied trades and industry associations throughout the UK, reflecting its commitment to meeting needs across the country, not just in and around London.

Again this year, The Worshipful Company of Bakers was represented at the annual School Careers Fair. Our stand looked particularly colourful and attractive.

There is a private Facebook Group for all those who have attended one of our Overseas Courses.
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Pizza Spinning at the 2024 School of Artisan Foods Bursary Course
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The day’s events went to plan. There was a lovely display of bread and cakes next to the Guess the Equipment display. We must give a big thank you to Zeelandia for the loan of a range of interesting pieces of important equipment needed in a bakery. The display attracted lots of conversation, about bakery work and the industry in general.

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The modelling of sugar paste also attracted a lot of interest. Pupils were able to ask questions about both the Bakers Company and the range of careers open to them. As a result, they were able to take a lot of new knowledge back to school.

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Richard Burrell, whose background was working with fats and oils, talked about how companies who supply the ingredients used in the baking industry, work with the trade. Dawn Gemmell demonstrated a creative aspect of the industry by modelling animals in sugar paste for birthday cakes.

 A lot of very enthusiastic but polite and well-motivated pupils visited our stand so a big thank you must go both to the organisers of the annual School Careers Fair and to the schools involved.

Education

Grants

Through its Education and Research Foundation, the Company makes a number of specific awards.

The Bakers' Company Award is made to successful applicants, enabling them to receive high quality craft training in mainland Europe.

The Joseph Award was introduced in 2002, funded from the consolidated bequests so kindly made by the Joseph family over the years. The Joseph Award is presented each year and enables the successful applicant to receive high quality craft training in the UK or mainland Europe.

Details of the Bakers' Company Education and Scholarship Programme are published annually on this website and details can also be found in the Trade Press.

                                                                 

                                                               

Richemont Centre of Excellence, Lucerne

BURSARY COURSE 2024: Richemont Centre of Excellence, Lucerne

The Worshipful Company of Bakers is pleased to announce that the overseas Summer Course in 2024 will once more take place at the internationally renowned Richemont Centre of Excellence in Lucerne, Switzerland. This prestigious course is designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of recently graduated students, apprentices who are already at a very advanced level of their bakery education, or craft bakers with long experience who wish to broaden or refresh their knowledge and skill. Therefore, the applications criteria this year have been modified accordingly.

The dates are Sunday 21st July 2024 to Friday 26th July 2024 inclusive.     Applications for the 2024 course have now closed.

Please read the following criteria (and those on the application form in November) very carefully.

To be eligible for the awards next year delegates MUST:

  • Be available to travel on the dates specified above.
  • Hold a valid passport that will not expire before 31st January 2025 and any necessary visa documentation.
  • College/University students must have graduated from their course before August 2022.
  • Apprentices must have held their positions for at least 3 years and hold at least Level 2 (or equivalent) qualification.
  • Other applicants must have a proven employment record within the baking industry of at least 5 years.
  • The application form includes a section in which candidates are required to submit evidence describing their development of one bakery product. This may be a sole effort or as part of a development team, but the product must have been created and developed within the past 12 months.

Please do not apply unless you fulfil these criteria. They have been set to ensure that the delegates who attend the course will get the greatest benefit from the Richemont experience. Your employer(s) will be contacted for a supporting reference for your application and you will be required to attend a virtual interview as part of the selection process. 

BAKELS 2024: 

You can now download the instructions and update the online application form below.

2-BAKELS Bursary courses 2024 online information

WCB-BAKELS-Bursary-Course-Application-Form-2024

 

The Worshipful Company of Bakers has run two Short Courses this year, at Bakels in Bicester and at the School for Artisan Food.

 

The Worshipful Company of Bakers: Bursary Course 2024 at The School of Artisan Foods

An enthusiastic delegation of young bakers travelled to the heart of Nottingham to benefit from the expert teaching of Kevan Roberts and Martha Brown. Once again, the School of Artisan Food was the venue for this learning experience, where our bakers honed their skills in the production of long fermentation artisan breads and patisserie products.

The delegates were drawn from bakeries and colleges as far afield as Glasgow, North Wales, Norwich and the Cotswolds, providing a rich mixture of baking experiences which they could all share.

It was truly wonderful to see them gel together as a group, and watch them grow in confidence, as they worked with Kevan and Martha. They made breads using beer barm instead of yeast, used interesting combinations of ingredients such as in the Spring Onion and Brie sourdough, and modernised the humble Hot Cross bun using spiced apples and a new topping. Martha inspired our bakers to release their creative streak and we were rewarded with new shapes and fillings and interpretations of Cruffins, Danish Pastries and Italian meringue.

For more information, see here

 

Short Course at British Bakels Innovation Centre Bicester, September 2023

Twelve young bakers drawn from Colleges, Universities and Bakeries in the UK and Northern Ireland came together at the renowned Bakels Innovation Centre in Bicester for three days of education, enlightenment and product innovation.

They were given insights into bakery market trends, marketing and new product development by specialists on the Bakels team, and Assistant Sara Autton was invited to give a demonstration and lecture on the technology of sourdough production. After this, the student cohort was divided into groups of three and each given the brief to develop an innovative bakery product. They were tasked with developing, producing and costing the product; then presenting it with a marketing strategy to a panel of judges. The panel comprised members of the Bakels team, along with Sara Autton, Graham Duckworth (Bakery tutor from University College Birmingham) and Past Master Patrick Wilkins, who is also President of the Craft Bakers Association.

The products that they developed were a vegan muffin selection box; a cube-shaped Christmas bread; a gluten-free, vegan snack bar; and a novelty vegan cupcake, decorated with a brain, designed for Halloween. The students all worked well together in their groups, presenting their products to the judges with confidence and flair. They fielded the judges’ questions with some skill - even those that caught them slightly off guard!

The winning product was the oat-based, mango snack bar which fitted the brief extremely well. The winning group, Bethan Saunders, Kieran Jenkins and Ellise Bailey were rewarded with Amazon vouchers and a rousing round of applause from everyone else.

The Trade Liaison Committee would like to thank Past Master Paul Morrow and Liveryman Keith Houliston for organising this incredibly successful course which has proved so valuable to these students.

   Vegan muffin selection    Square Christmas Pudding

Vegan muffin selection        Square Christmas Pudding

Students with their course certificates presented by Past Master Patrick Wilkins                         Keith Houliston and the students: introduction to the course

Students with their course certificates                 Keith Houliston and the students:

presented by Past Master Patrick Wilkins           introduction to the course

The next course at Richemont Craft School in Switzerland will take place in 2024 (see below for reports on the course at Richemont in 2022).

Click here to read Henry Jeffries report on Richemont 2022.

Click here to read Kathy Hooper's synopsis of students' reports on the course at Richemont 2022.

Click here to read about the Sea Cadets Jubilee Cake design competition.

Click here to read about the Hugh Weeks Award 2023 and here to read about the winner.

Click here to read about Professional Careers in the Baking Industry.

Our work with Further and Higher Education - Bakery Schools
Our Work with Schools
Colleges Delivering Bakery Studies
Our Work with the Trade (CPD)
Our Work with Officer Cadets
Our Work with the Armed Forces
Information and Resources for Bakery Education in the UK and Ireland