Northern Irish craft bakery Genesis ran a “Welcome Home” promotion over the

festive period, greeting holidaymakers arriving back in Belfast City Airport with slices of its Crafty Wheaten range.

Genesis marketing manager Liesa Donaldson said the company, assisted by Miss Northern Ireland Lucy Evangelista, distributed almost 24,000 slices of bread to passengers. “This promotion is our way of reminding ex-pats and émigrés about all that’s great about coming home,” said Ms Donaldson.

The Crafty brand of premium breads, which the Magherafelt firm launched in the UK and Ireland in August, is promising to generate the same “level of fervour” as its wheaten and its scones, which have 30% of the home market, she claimed. The firm’s range of scones and wheatens is available in supermarkets across Northern Ireland and in Waitrose in the UK.