SCOTLAND’S only prison bakery cooked up a fundraising boost yesterday – after targeting the stars of the Great British Bake Off.
Based at HMP Loss Moss, Freedom Bakery trains inmates to bake rolls, loaves and pastries in a bid to give them skills and dissuade them from reoffending on release.
The only project of its kind in the country, the community interest company sells to delis and cafes and aims to open a second site in Glasgow to increase its commercial activity, using the proceeds to fund the services it provides in jail.
But a £15,000 crowdfunding bid had yesterday raised just more than half of what was needed with two days to go until the deadline – until staff sent a flurry of tweets to stars of the much-loved cake series.
Led by founder Matt Fountain, the team sent details of the project to Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins, latest winner Nadiya Begum and a host of previous contestants including Scot Flora Shedden, firefighter Mat Riley and judge Paul Hollywood, who retweeted their campaign.
The push also saw them reach out to famous names including Andy Murray, Chris Hoy, Gerard Butler and Gordon Ramsay and increased the total pledged by a tasty £2,500 to around £10,400.
Now the team is within touching distance of the target sum and is making a final plea to the public before time is up at 6pm tomorrow.
Fountain told The National: “This is the last chance for us to get the money because if we don’t make our total we don’t get anything. We are so close and this money isn’t just about a second bakery, it’s about providing an opportunity for people to change their lives and to have an impact on the lives of their families.
“It is a relatively small amount of money but we could do so much with it.”
Yesterday none of the famous names contacted by Fountain were listed as donors, but the entrepreneur urged caution, saying: “We don’t know because people can be put down as anonymous if they choose to be.”
Last year a report found almost 30 per cent of those with convictions reoffend and Stephen Murphy, head of prisoner outcomes at HMP Low Moss, said some inmates working at the bakery had never had a job before.
Fountain set up the bakery using an Italian model but, launching the crowdfunder earlier this month, said: “The successful opening of the new bakery will create a model entirely unique in the world, where we can prove that people with convictions can prove their skills and value once rehabilitated back into society.
“The Freedom Bakery has doubled its customer base in the past two months and demand is such because skills and quality of what our prison team produce is what people really want.”
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