Hundreds of bakers from up and down the country attended the second Bakers’ Fair of the year, held at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate on Sunday.

The event, organised by British Baker and sponsored by Norbake, played host to a variety of insightful presentations and practical demonstrations, as well as a number of exhibitors who were showcasing their products and on-hand to talk to visitors.

Shaun Williamson, who played Barry in BBC One’s iconic soap Eastenders, was special guest at the event and ensured crowds were entertained during the afternoon. He joined Mike Holling, chairman of the National Association of Master Bakers, on the Bakers’ Fair Stage to judge the Bakers versus Butchers competition.

Team butchers prevailed on the day, consisting of Heather Parry and Paul Nicholson from Fodder in Harrogate, who successfully deocrated a cake. The bakers, which included Neil MacSymons and Peter Lonican, piped and created a link of sausages. 

Other winners on the day included those taking part in the Richemont Club of Great Britain’s competition, which consisted of a number of bakery goods including sausage rolls, scones, cupcakes, bread and Christmas-themed products.

Slattery’s took home the Richemont trophy for being the overall top-scoring member of the Club, as well as best in show for a pasty and Christmas fancies, the CSM trophy and the Renshaw trophy. B F Done and Son, based in Wolverhampton, scooped the Rank Hovis trophy and Dumouchel was awarded the Christmas trophy.

Trevor Mooney, competition secretary at Richemont, addressed the audience at the end of the awards presentation ceremony and said: “I want to say thank you to the team at British Baker, who kindly let us host our competition as part of this event and made it all possible.”

Highlights of the Bakers’ Fair Stage presentations included Christmas-themed demos from Amelia Nutting and Andrea Campbell Jackson of Shuga Budz in Wolverhampton, as well as Baking Industry Award 2012 winners Justin Clapham and Gemma Pickup from Bettys Bakery in Harrogate.

Holling also took to the stage with Heather Bowen from the Teenage Cancer Trust charity to launch this year’s National Craft Bakers Week (8-13 October), which included a special video of Channel 4’s The Fabulous Baker Brothers, Tom and Henry Herbert.

Martyn Leek, editor of British Baker, said: “The second of our Bakers’ Fair events for 2012 proved to be a huge success and celebrated some of the craft baking industry’s best talent who were finalists and winners in a series of high calibre competitions.”

Read the full review of Bakers’ Fair Autumn in the 19 October issue of British Baker magazine.

Topics