Stoneham Bakehouse Community Supported Bakery

by Stoneham Bakehouse in Hove, England, United Kingdom

We did it
On 15th March 2017 we successfully raised £23,475 with 273 supporters in 14 days

WE KNEAD YOU! Help us raise the funds to fit out our community bakery. We've got the premises, now we need help to get an oven.

by Stoneham Bakehouse in Hove, England, United Kingdom

 New stretch target

We are overfunding, check out what we can do if we reach £30000 target!

Wow, thank you to all our supporters and backers. We've reached our initial target, and can get the bread oven into the heart of the community. It also means we can support more people with their wellbeing through working with dough. With the money we overfund, we want to run more projects with the local schools, older people's groups, and be able to reach areas of the community we've not worked with before. We still knead you!


Stoneham Bakehouse CIC is a Community Supported Bakery based in the Poets' Corner area of Hove. For two years we've been a bakery without a bakery; gypsy bakers if you like, using generously given oven space across the community to bake our bread. Our bakers almost all live locally, and volunteer their time on a regular basis to mix, shape and bake dough. We also work in the community to share the therapeutic nature of making bread; something which Simon, one of our directors, came to realise the benefits of when battling with depression and anxiety.

The Bakehouse sprung up out of this realisation, and supporting wellbeing is very much at its core.  One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem in any given year, so we're helping to tackle a real social problem with our work in the community. For example, during the last couple of years we have worked with children at Hove Junior school, in a project funded by the NHS, to support their vulnerable and disadvantaged children using breadmaking as a tool to enhance their wellbeing.

Our Impact on the Community So Far

As well as our project with the local school, we've worked with groups of older men, women who have experienced domestic abuse, and users of the local food bank. We've seen the huge impact baking bread can have on these, and other, groups. It's not just us who think that what we do is a good idea either:

Over the weeks our sessions brought together a group of isolated men who were experiencing mental health issues. Once a week they sat together, talked, laughed and made delicious bread and buns. The sessions were therapeutic and beneficial in the gathering together, the doing and the eating.  Linda Hastings, Hop50+, Hove

An amazing session, as the parent of an autistic child who eats very little - he actually ate bread - "WOW". So pleased with everything he has learned. Thank you!  Parent of child on the PlayDough wellbeing and baking programme

I'm so glad to have discovered the Bakehouse. The simple act of baking has not only been therapeutic but has helped me to focus on the present and rebuild my confidence. Baking with Stoneham Bakehouse lifts my spirits every time. Lou, volunteer baker

It's a marvellous idea that brings the community together; who wouldn't want an enterprise like this on their doorstep? My family support the Bakehouse because the bread is exceptional. Customer

What We Want to do Now

We want to use our new premises as a hub for our activities. It will run as a bakery shop for part of the week, and host our work with community groups on other days. Currently we've been baking to order, with members of the public picking up bread at a specific time; but with a shop, we'll be able to offer a more traditional bread buying experience. The bread will be baked by our community volunteers, and we'll be baking in the morning, so that people can see the whole baking experience as they walk by the bakery.

Having a fixed location will also mean we can host the work we do with community groups, whether its preschool children, or groups of older people. This will really support our work, and help particpants continue to engage in the community beyond the end of the series of workshops they attend. Imagine, someone comes to a workshop as an Employment Support Allowance claimant, finds it therapeutic and worthwhile, so gets involved as a volunteer baker, and then perhaps even (as we grow) gets a part time job with us. We want to build peoples' skills and experience, so that they can support their own wellbeing through employment and community involvement.

What will we do with the money raised from your support…

We have secured premises and have started the process of filling, sanding and painting to get it ready; but we need to kit it out with everything that will make it a successful community bakery. Our vision is to bring a bread oven back into the heart of the community. Our new premises on Stoneham Road is next door to the location of the former neighbourhood bakery, and the old Clarks' Bread sign is still on the back of the building. The £20,000 we're asking for will help us fulfil our dream, by giving us the funding we require to purchase:

  • a professional 3 deck oven  £7500
  • mixer £1500
  • catering fridge £1500
  • prover £1500
  • water heater £500
  • 3 Phase electricity installation and rewiring £3500
  • extraction £2000
  • other equipment and bakery needs. £1000

With a bakery of our own, we can secure the future of the project by enabling us to offer a more substantial wholesale service to commercial customers. We can involve more people in the baking, as volunteers, and in time staff.  We can support more disadvantaged groups. We can nourish the community.

What You Get

We've got some great rewards for anyone who wants to help us out. You can get your hands on one of our new tote bags or some of our delicious community baked bread, get vouchers to learn to bake, or even tickets to an exclusive Pizza Night at the Bakehouse.

If you live further away, and can't get to our bakerhouse easily, why not choose one of our rewards which allow you to donate your gift to someone else? We've teamed up with Hove Luncheon Club who provides a healthy and hot three-course meal for isolated older people, once a week.  We'll give the Club vouchers, enabling members to get a loaf of bread a week for a month. 

We're also giving you the opportunity to donate the chance to attend one of our breadmaking workshops to a member of our local community who is on benefits or low income. We often get enquiries from people wanting low cost breadmaking, so we'd like to be able to give everyone the chance to learn how to make their own loaf.

Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.

£10 or more

£10 Reward

A loaf of our delicious bread a week for a month and your name on the Wall of Thanks. We'll post you a voucher, and you can come along to the shop and grab four loaves (only one loaf can be claimed per visit).

£20 or more

£20 Reward

A loaf of our delicious bread a week for a month, plus an exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag, and your name on the Wall of Thanks. We'll post you a voucher and a bag, and you can come along to the shop and grab four loaves (only one loaf can be claimed per visit) to fill your bag with.

£20 or more

£20 Reward

An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag for yourself, and donate a loaf of our delicious bread a week for a month to one of the members of Hove Luncheon Club. To say a big THANK YOU, we'll also put your name on our Wall of Thanks. We'll give the bread voucher to the Hove Luncheon Club, and they'll give it to one of their elderly members who will benefit from your genorsity. Your pledge will really help to nourish the community.

£30 or more

£30 Reward

A place on one of our 2.5 hour breadmaking workshops. Learn to make your own delicious bread. An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag, plus your name on the Wall of Thanks. We'll post you your bag and baking workshop voucher, and you can book a place on one of our workshops at stonehambakehouse.org.uk/events

£50 or more

£50 Reward

A place on one of our 4 hour breadmaking workshops. Learn to make your very own bread. An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag, plus your name on the Wall of Thanks. We'll post you your bag and baking workshop voucher, and you can book a place on one of our workshops at stonehambakehouse.org.uk/events

£50 or more

£50 Reward

An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag for yourself, and donate a place on one of our workshops to a member of our community on a low income. To say a big THANK YOU, we'll also put your name on our Wall of Thanks. We'll give someone who wants to learn to bake their own bread, but is on a low income, a place on one of our breadmaking workshops. Your pledge will really help to nourish the community.

£100 or more

£100 Reward

Two tickets to a VIP Pizza night at the Bakehouse. An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag, and your name on the Wall of Thanks We'll post you your bag, and we'll send you details of the Pizza Night as soon as we have the bakery up and running.

£200 or more

£200 Reward

Four tickets to a VIP Pizza night at the Bakehouse. An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag, and your name on the Wall of Thanks We'll post you your bag, and we'll send you details of the Pizza Night as soon as we have the bakery up and running.

£500 or more

£500 Reward

A personalised breadmaking class for four people. 2 tickets to a VIP Pizza night at the Bakehouse. An exclusive Stoneham Bakehouse tote bag, and your name on the Wall of Thanks. We'll post you your bag, and we'll send you details of the Pizza Night as soon as we have the bakery up and running. In addition, we'll work out a programme and date for a breadmaking workshop that works best for yourself.

£500 or more

£500 Reward

Come to Stoneham Bakehouse for a 1/2 day of team building and baking bread. Motivate, inspire and challenge your team by spending time at ouur community bakehouse. We'll work together to bake bread, and end the session by eating together as a group. Suitable for teams of up to 10 people, we'll work with you to arrange a time and date which is mutually convenient.

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