Who are we?
We are the Hornbeam Bakers Collective, a group of community bakers who make and sell our bread for local markets, cafes, and our communities. We are passionate about making real (healthy) bread and running community baking workshops which are currently the MOST AFFORDABLE BAKING BREAD WORKSHOPS IN LONDON!
We have been baking in the collective since 2006 and have organically grown over the years. We begun with hand kneading and transporting our bread by bicycle trailer and have been based at the Hornbeam Centre http://www.hornbeam.org.uk/ in Hoe St Walthamstow and now we are looking to expand and grow!
With your help we are moving into a new bakery premises as part of a community workshop project, in Walthamstow London which will enable us to not only grow as a collective, which would benefit our local communities, but also offer you much more of our affordable baking bread workshops and even training to become a baker! …As well as even more of our organic nutritious bread.
We are moving into a new community based project at Blackhorse Workshops in Walthamstow London http://www.createlondon.org/event/blackhorse-workshop/ where we will set up our bigger and better bakery workshop. This will enable us to:
- bake for our regular markets
- run even more of our popular baking workshops. For just £30 you can attend our workshops to learn how to bake real bread.
- set up an in house café
- cater for local events
- We will also offer baker enthusiasts training to build their experience and skills in a professional equipped kitchen and you could even end up joining our baking collective, working in a bakery or setting up your own business!
You will learn how to bake bread with experienced bakers from the collective who have various backgrounds of training and bread baking skills. You will be working with high quality ingredients and techniques and professional equipment to create beautiful breads that are wholesome. We believe in high standard of craftpersonship and in helping people achieve their full potential in baking by demystifying bread baking for the community and making it more accessible.
We endeavour to make the Hornbeam bakers Collective Community Workshop one of the most affordable and community focused bakery workshops in London.
We have the space, the experience and we have the vision. Now we just need the funding to build and equip the bakery and get an oven. We cannot bake without an oven!
By pledging now you’ll help fund the equipment, but you’ll also prove to our other backers that there are people out there who want and need these facilities which they will also benefit from. At this stage in our development your support is absolutely critical. So please help the Hornbeam Bakers Collective and pledge something now!Thank you!
What is Hornbeam Bakers Collective Community Workshop?
The workshop will be an inspiring place to work and so we can accommodate lots of people. It will contain a deck oven and bench space and will be wheelchair accessible. We aim to make it a clean, safe and pleasant place to learn and work. There are high ceilings, it is spacious and airy.
The Workshop will be part of a bigger workshop space that offer wood and metal community workshops. There will be a café space and an outside front yard space which will become a garden and gardening plot that you can enjoy. We have also built an outdoor cob oven where we can bake pizza!
The space will be a unique and interesting combined bakery and workshop space. It will be open for our workshops on weekends and some evenings.
We will bake on a regular day to day basis to supply our bread to the community and the café will also be open to the public from day to day. There will also be occasional special themed event days such as ‘Pizza and Beer nights’ with our own brewed beer and pizza and more!
Where is The Hornbeam Bakers Collective Community Workshop?
The Hornbeam Bakers Collective Community Workshop is at the Blackhorse Workshops on 1-2 Sutherland Path which is between Sutherland Rd and Blackhorse Lane in E17 6BX Walthamstow London. It is accessed through a path between Blackhorse lane and Sutherland rd.
The nearest tube is Blackhorse lane Tube Station on the Victoria Line which is a 7 min walk from the station (the nearest accessible tube is Tottenham Hale tube station which is one stop away)
When will we open?
The Hornbeam Bakers Collective Community Workshop will open in January 2014. We have a lot of work to do so the sooner you pledge the better and anything will help.
What facilities will we have?
The kitchen will contain a professional deck oven and will be designed and equipped to bake various items. The workshop space will contain accessible bench space which we can use for workshops. We'll also have tools available for all standard baking processes. The workshop and toilets are wheelchair accessible.
What can I learn how to bake at the Workshop?
Our courses are for all ages and backgrounds and abilities, everyone is welcome, but we will only take younger people (under 16) on board if they are accompanied by an adult member due to the dangers inherent in tools, and electrical equipment.
We welcome individuals, groups and organisations, schools and anyone else who are interested to participate!
We will have regular weekend workshops and some weekday workshops to learn how to bake:
Basic loaf, Shaping breads, Speciality Breads, Sourdough Breads, Special Diets Baking (vegan/dairy free, wheat free, gluten Free, sugar free), Ancient and Alternative Grains, Pizza, Pastry, Cakes, Fermentation and more!
We offer courses for all levels, from basic to intermediate and advanced to speciality.
A list of our courses and dates are on our blog www.hornbeambakers.wordpress.com
We put up our workshops 3 monthly programme in advance so you can book your places well in advance on our courses. If you do not want to donate money then you can still support us by booking yourself on one of our workshops, or both! We sell gift vouchers for all our courses.
They make perfect gifts for birthdays and upcoming Christmas! Courses often fill up quickly so make sure to book in advance!
What kind of technical support will I get?
You will learn how to bake bread with experienced bakers from the collective who have various backgrounds of training and bread baking skills. We will offer you skills, techniques, knowledge, tricks and tips, recipes and more that we have learned for ourselves. We believe in sharing this knowledge with our community so you are empowered to bake bread for yourselves.
What are the opening hours?
The proposed opening hours for the public are as follows· Tuesday: 10 – 6pm· Wednesday 10am-6pm· Thursday 10- 6pm· Friday 10-6pm· Saturday 10-6pm· Sunday 10-6pmWe will also open the bakery at other times for events and 6-9pm for evening workshops , which will be posted and regularly updated on our blog.*opening times are subject to changes
Are we a Business or Community group?
Hornbeam Bakers Collective are a Community Interest Group. This means we have a social and community mission and a commitment to reinvesting our profits to continue to meet the needs of our users from the community. Our primary aim is to increase accessibilty, awareness and inclusion in baking, healthy eating and wellbeing. We will do this by creating an efficiently run facility that keeps costs down by making the optimal use of shared space and keeping our expenses low.
Being set up as a company model allows us to grow a self-sustaining organisation and so we can pay ourselves and others for our community work as we believe in workers rights, though we don’t pay ourselves a lot and we reinvest a good part of our intake back into our project.
We are in the process of obtaining our legal entity.
Why we need you!
We have got the skills and the passion to make this happen, but we also need money to fund the project and community interest.
We are self funded and seeking some small funding but we cannot rely on that and need to build the space NOW before it opens in January 2013. we have kind donations of resources and labour from community members so far but there is more to do.
We ideally need much more that £3000 as there is a lot to do to make this project happen so please donate what you can and if we raise more than £3000 then we will be well on the way of making this happen fast!
As a key part of this, your money will be used to buy a much needed professional oven as we cannot bake without one but anything more will help us build and equip the workshop.
It will also be a crucial tool to help us raise money elsewhere. To give funders confidence that there are users for this service and that it will be self-sustaining, there is no stronger support you can give us than to pledge now.
How can you help?
Making a pledge!We need to reach our funding goal of £3000 before the 31 days are up if we are to keep moving forward. So if you'd like the workshop to become a reality, please make a pledge and help us get a step closer to reaching our goal. To raise enough money to open we're going to reach our set goal so every pledge will count.*You can always pledge more money than the pledge tier if you like, we need much more that £3000 to get this off the ground so if we make our goal do keep pledging as every penny will count and go towards our start up costs of around £15,000 (any additional money can also be used to fund training) so if you're feeling especially generous you could pledge more, or even choose not to receive a reward. It's up to you.
Telling people about Hornbeam Bakers Collective: Community Workshop!Liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter will also help. Show your friends our blog, or send them a link to this page. By spreading the word you'll be helping us to find other potential supporters.
Coming to one of our workshops!
check out our workshops here www.hornbeambakers.wordpress.com
Subscribe to a yearly loaf
By paying in advance the annual cost of getting a loaf every week which is £150 (£2.90 x 52 weeks) you know that all year round you will be getting fresh organic artisan bread and supporting a community venture that cares for people and the earth.
Supply our bread or baked goods!
email us if you are interested [email protected]
Volunteer as a helper!
share your valued skills for a great cause that you can be a part of
What's do you get in return?
Satisfaction
knowing that you were instrumental in getting our project off the ground. You will be the reason that the Hornbeam Bakers Collective: Community Workshop will have become a reality and benefitted many others in the community and maybe even you in return.
Rewards
If you pledge £500 you’ll receive a week of individual training!
If you pledge £100 or more you’ll secure a day of individual training!
If you pledge £40 you’ll receive a baker’s tool kit! such as a tool scraper, apron, loaf tin and some of our winning recipes!
If you pledge £20 you’ll receive a custom Hornbeam Bakers Collective apron!
If you pledge £10 you will get a Hornbeam Bakers Collective Recipe Booklet of our special baking recipes
*The rewards will be made once the funding is over
Opportunities
We will create opportunities for you to develop as a baker whatever level you’re at. Once we’re up and running there will be opportunities to join our collective and bake for us and it will be a good way to build your professional reputation or just bake at home or for others.
Craft
Europe is famous for its amazing bread traditions, but It is a dying craft in this country. Due to industrialisation, many small traditional bakeries are closing. Supporting Hornbeam Bakers Collective: Community Workshop is a way to keep those important skills alive, to raise awareness of, share and continue bread baking traditions and to empower people to have control over their own food and know what they are eating.
Community
You’ll join and support a thriving diverse community of people invested in baking and wellbeing with different ideas and skills that will inspire and engage its members.
When and how do I pay?
If you sign up now through Go Cardless, your money will only be taken once we meet our funding target. It works like a one-off direct debit. If we don't reach our target then you don't pay, but if we do then your money will automatically be taken from your account. Or you can pay via Paypal.
We need to know we have enough people prepared to sign up, and then we will be able to release the total funding we need for the project. If we don’t have enough people sign up then no one will have to pay. This way either we get to open the workshop and hence you get your reward, or you keep your money and we have to try another way. So you can’t lose.
If you want Hornbeam Bakers Collective: Community Workshop to become a reality you’ll help spread the word to give us the best chance of reaching our target. We will be working hard our end to get this off the ground but we will do it one way or the other. This project WILL happen and we are committed to making it happen.
The project must be fully funded by the end of the 35 day funding attempt or no money will change hands.
Can we take pledges from outside of the UK?
Yes we can! You can pay via PayPal. Please email us if you have any questions! *Unfortuntately we cannot ship any of our rewards overseas except for the custom aprons
Is there an option to contribute for investors?
Yes, there is an option if you are interested in investing or donating us money. Please email us so we can discuss this further but remember we are a community interest group so it will have to fit into our community ethos.
Contact
www.hornbeambakers.wordpress.comGot a question?If you have any questions please get in touch!email: [email protected] you!