Norwich bakers make cakes for children they will never meet

Julie Merrywest co-ordinates about 15 orders a month for children who would not otherwise get a birthday cake

A group of bakers who make birthday cakes for underprivileged children are looking for more youngsters to treat, and more volunteers to help them.

The Norwich branch of nationwide group Free Cakes for Kids UK has about 20 volunteer bakers.

Co-ordinator Julie Merrywest said she had been spurred on by a three-year-old boy her team had baked for.

"For him the cake was the only acknowledgement of his birthday," she said.

The Norwich branch of Free Cakes for Kids has been running for about five years

Mrs Merrywest, a mother-of-one who lives in the city and works as an NHS occupational therapist, said: "It's a simple thing, but I take it for granted that my child will have a cake on their birthday.

"Cakes can make a difference. The act of lighting the candles and standing round the cake brings a family together to give a focal point to that birthday.

"Every volunteer baker always says 'I'm not going to be great'... but there's a cake when there wouldn't have been one."

A family support worker said the charity's cakes lifted families' spirits

Requests to help families in deprived circumstances are normally made through a third party such as social services, charities, NHS workers or schools.

Amateur bakers, plus a few professionals, fulfil about 15 orders a month, with the cakes then dropped off to the referrers who pass them on to families.

Mrs Merrywest said the branch had enough bakers, but was looking for more children to bake for and more volunteer delivery drivers.

Family support worker Jessica Mayes, from SureStart's North City Children's Centre, said it had requested cakes - ranging from Harry Potter to Peppa Pig - after it discovered the community service about six months ago.

"The families are involved in planning it, and are asked what their children like - it's not just something that's happening to them," she said.

"For families unable to provide presents or birthday cakes - it's not that they don't want to, but they can't - it's uplifting."