Help grow our Bakehouse and Cookery School

Aim

We're raising dough to provide more volunteer training and work-placements by expanding our community Bakehouse and Cookery School.

Help St Sidwell’s Community Centre transform a disused space into Exeter's community Bakehouse and Cookery School



In a nutshell


At St Sid's we have a rare and exciting opportunity to relocate our busy community Bakehouse and Cookery School to a disused space on Sidwell Street. We want to transform 178/179 Sidwell Street from a dusty, neglected retail unit into a welcoming, thriving community hub. With your help to raise the remaining dough we will:

• Create new training opportunities, new volunteering opportunities, new jobs.
• Build a healthier community.
• Bring positive change to Sidwell Street

We have already raised £8000 of our £13,000 fundraising target, but we need your support with the final push. We’re asking for community support towards the costs of relocation of our Bakehouse and Cookery School and transforming the space.

Donations will help towards practical costs of the move, including installing essential three-phase electrics and plumbing, an accessible loo, moving the existing bread ovens and mixer and some much-needed TLC to create a welcoming space.

Read on to find out more about St Sid's, our Community Bakehouse and Cookery School, and why our relocation will have an impact.

What we'll achieve with more space

Covid is having a devastating impact on individuals, families and communities and our previously busy centre has been hit hard too. But we are learning to adapt and this new project offers the prospect of a brighter future.

• New training opportunities, new volunteering opportunities, new jobs. At a time when thousands of people have lost their jobs and thousands more are under threat, we are delighted to be able to create new jobs, work-experience and retraining opportunities. The volunteering opportunities will be just as important for people seeking a routine, a chance to meet new people, or the therapeutic benefits of baking.

• A healthier community. At the Sidwell Street Bakehouse we make nutritious bread from scratch using stoneground, organic flours. All our bread, and treats, are sourdough, meaning they are fermented for many hours - which improves digestibility, flavour and nutritional benefit. We aim to sell our bread at affordable prices, so as many people as possible can eat delicious, real bread. This move will help us make more bread, for more people. We teach people to make their own bread, too - and our Cookery School has a wide range of courses to suit everyone's interests and encourage learning.

• Positive change in the local community. Sidwell Street isn't the most beautiful street in Exeter and we've got more than our fair share of anti-social behaviour but it is the most multicultural street in Exeter, it's a vibrant place full of independent traders and it has huge potential. We believe that our community Bakehouse will help Sidwell Street to realise that potential. By transforming a long disused retail unit and creating a welcoming space for everyone, we can make the street more appealing and attract new visitors.

More about us, and the story so far...

We are an independent community centre in the heart of Exeter giving a warm welcome regardless of background, ability or circumstance. We offer a wide programme of activities, events and services for the local community.

We run a community café and bakery, grow vegetables in our garden, offer affordable meeting room and venue hire, provide free ESOL classes, and offer volunteering opportunities across all areas of our work.

Our volunteering and work-experience programme is so popular - particularly within the kitchen and cafe - that we started to develop our own micro-bakery in 2018 so we could offer more opportunities. In 2019 we received funding from Power to Change to convert a tiny office into a tiny bakery and The Sidwell Street Bakehouse was born.

The Sidwell Street Bakehouse

We specialise in sourdough breads and treats using stoneground organic flours. We want to make great quality, nutritious bread more accessible to everyone in Exeter and we want to train more people in the craft of real bread. Our volunteer programme is open to everyone, with any level of experience and from all backgrounds.

During lockdown we saw the demand for our bread increase significantly, and as a small, local organisation we were able to reinvent our business to offer Covid-safe home deliveries. With a minimum order of just £5 for free delivery by bicycle (rain or shine!), we delivered to up to 50 households each week. We were operating above capacity, and we could only meet this level of demand thanks to volunteer delivery riders, and by using rooms in the rest of the community centre while it was closed.

We believe in the importance of local businesses to create a resilient food system, and we want to continue to be there, providing a staple product (along with some delicious treats), whatever comes our way. To do this we need more space.

We also desperately need more space to work with more volunteers and train more people. Before Covid-19, our tiny bakery meant 1 or 2 volunteers could work with us at a time, and we were already beginning to see a need to find bigger premises. Now we need that extra space more than ever. With job losses as a result of the Covid crisis, we want to provide more employment opportunities and help people retrain and learn new skills. We want to be able to provide meaningful, tailored volunteering placements that support people to develop in the ways they want - whether this is towards employment, for therapeutic benefit or to meet new people (at a safe distance).

The Sidwell Street Cookery School 

We offer high quality, fun and friendly classes at affordable prices. From sourdough bread to food from around the world, we aim to provide a diverse range of courses to suit everyone's tastes and interests.

 Since we reopened in July there has been a big increase in demand for our - now socially distanced - cookery classes. Sourdough baking in particular is something many found an interest in during lockdown. Working around other activities at St Sidwell’s means that there are only limited times we can offer courses. With a dedicated space we will be able to offer a wider programme of events and we hope there will be opportunities for everyone to get involved.


Can you spare some dough?

We have been working with Princesshay and The Crown Estate to secure use of 178/179 Sidwell Street - a three storey disused building just over the road from the community centre. There's plenty of room there to create a fantastic, welcoming space for our volunteers and customers. We have already raised a good chunk of the money required with support from The Crown Estate, Social Enterprise Support Fund, and Power to Change but we need your help for the final push. We have some great rewards on offer as a thank you for your donations. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated, whether it is £5, £50 or £500.

We understand that many people may support us but not be able to donate financially - we are grateful for your support in any capacity. Sharing this crowdfunder and spreading the word to other people locally about The Sidwell Street Bakehouse, Cookery School and St Sidwell’s Community Centre is really important and we’d love your help to do this - so share on social media, tell your friends, families, colleagues and passers-by, and if you want to help in other ways, we’d love to hear from you. There will be plenty of painting and cleaning to get the space ready and there are lots of other ways you can get involved.

To find out more visit www.stsidwells.org.uk/oldhalfords or email [email protected]

St Sidwell's Community Centre, Sidwell Street, Exeter, EX4 6NN

Registered charity number: 1122697

This project successfully funded on 17th November 2020