Elizabeth Harper, Licenced Specialist at Ripon Booths, has developed a sticky toffee bun recipe which hit the shelves of Booths stores this week with 10% of the proceeds being donated to blood cancer charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
Elizabeth’s sticky toffee buns were crowned winner of the Great Booths Bake Off, a companywide competition for Booths employees to create a winning recipe to be sold in Booths stores across the North West, with 10% of the proceeds going to a charity of the winner’s choice. Nearly 150 employees from 29 Booths stores competed to be in with a chance of supplying the shelves of their own workplace.
Angela Baker and four of the other original Calendar Girls supported Elizabeth at a launch event in Ripon Booths on Saturday 13th December which raised an initial £574 for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Angela’s husband John was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1998 and sadly passed away after just a few months of treatment. In the months following their loss, Angela and her friends set about creating the now infamous calendar and raising over £3 million for the charity.
Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research is a charity very close to Elizabeth’s heart, having lost her 18 year old brother to leukaemia. Elizabeth explains her inspiration for entering the Great Booths Bake Off; “When I heard about the Bake Off competition for Booths employees, I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to raise funds for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. When I baked my first batch of sticky toffee buns, I didn’t expect for a minute I’d be seeing them on the shelves at Booths, but I hope that the proceeds will help to fund valuable research into this disease that affects so many families.”
Every 15 minutes someone in the UK is given the devastating news that they have a blood cancer. There are 130,000 people living with blood cancer in the UK and every day we lose more than 30 of them to this disease.
Abigail Ritchie, Corporate Account Coordinator for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, adds; “We are delighted to have been chosen as Booths’ charity partner for Elizabeth Harper’s Sticky Toffee Buns. This partnership with Booths across Lancashire, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire will increase awareness of blood cancers across these communities. When our charity started in 1960, children with leukaemia had virtually no chance of survival. Now, thanks to our research more than 90% survive the most common form of childhood leukaemia.”
“Although our research has made significant progress, there is still a long way to go. The money raised will help us in our mission to beat blood cancer, improve the lives of all those affected and stop people from dying.”