Welcome to The Worshipful Company of Bakers
The Bakers' Company can trace its origins back to 1155 and is the City of London's second oldest recorded guild.
The Company’s membership is drawn from those living and working in the City of London; from those working in the Baking Industry or Allied Trades and from those who wish to support charitable activities and see history and tradition maintained.
The Bakers’ Company continues to be closely involved with the baking trade and a high proportion of its members are Master Bakers or Allied Traders.
However, an equally high proportion have City, not Trade, backgrounds. Both are equally welcome as this combination of backgrounds enriches the Company.
The establishment of “Young Bakers", with a flexible approach to progressing to the full Livery, is intended to support the recruitment of younger members.
Through the Benevolent Fund and individual member’s activities the Company is heavily involved in charitable works.
Become a Member
About Us
Charitable Activities
Education and Industry
Supporters
Hall Hire
Any availability of the hall subject to government Covid ruling.
Maureen Bonanno Smith - a Tribute
A photo of Maureen Bonanno Smith taken by Phil McCarthy in 2019 at the Summer Banquet with Paul Morrow, Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Bakers.
To mark International Women’s Day the Worshipful Company of Bakers would like to present a brief tribute to the first woman to be admitted to the Livery of the Company by Redemption – Mrs Maureen Bonanno Smith – who sadly died last summer. Please click here to read about her life and achievements.
Thank you for your hospitality from Irish Heritage
Morning Stevee,
Thank you so much for all your hospitality last evening. Everyone had a wonderful evening, thanks in no small part, to your excellent organisation.
We would like to thank the Master, Wardens and Court for their generousity in allowing us the use of the Hall, it is much appreciated by our Charity. All funds raised go directly to the Trust as all Team members are volunteers and so enables us to continue to support the Musicians through the early part of their careers.
Kindest regards and again many thanks. Have a lovely weekend.
Mary
Mary Connolly, Trustee & Events Co-ordinator
Irish Heritage
Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch
The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch at the Guildhall on 30 March raised £435k which is a record. The total to date is £3.28m.The Bakers’ stall raised £2773.57 which was higher than any other stall.
BURSARY COURSES 2024
BURSARY COURSE 2024: Richemont Centre of Excellence, Lucerne
The Worshipful Company of Bakers is pleased to announce that the overseas Summer Course in 2024 will once more take place at the internationally renowned Richemont Centre of Excellence in Lucerne, Switzerland. This prestigious course is designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of recently graduated students, apprentices who are already at a very advanced level of their bakery education, or craft bakers with long experience who wish to broaden or refresh their knowledge and skill. Therefore, the applications criteria this year have been modified accordingly.
The dates are Sunday 21st July 2024 to Friday 26th July 2024 inclusive. On-line applications for places will open on Friday 24th November 2023 at www.bakers.co.uk and the window will ONLY be open until midnight on Friday 23rd February 2024. NO applications will be considered after this date.
Please read the following criteria (and those on the application form in November) very carefully.
To be eligible for the awards next year delegates MUST:
- Be available to travel on the dates specified above.
- Hold a valid passport that will not expire before 31st January 2025 and any necessary visa documentation.
- College/University students must have graduated from their course before August 2022.
- Apprentices must have held their positions for at least 3 years and hold at least Level 2 (or equivalent) qualification.
- Other applicants must have a proven employment record within the baking industry of at least 5 years.
- The application form includes a section in which candidates are required to submit evidence describing their development of one bakery product. This may be a sole effort or as part of a development team, but the product must have been created and developed within the past 12 months.
Please do not apply unless you fulfil these criteria. They have been set to ensure that the delegates who attend the course will get the greatest benefit from the Richemont experience. Your employer(s) will be contacted for a supporting reference for your application and you will be required to attend a virtual interview as part of the selection process.
You can now download and update the online application form below.
BURSARY COURSES 2023
The Worshipful Company of Bakers has run two Short Courses this year, at Bakels in Bicester and at the School for Artisan Food.
The next course at Richemont Craft School in Switzerland will take place in 2024 (see below for reports on the course at Richemont in 2022).
Click here to read Henry Jeffries report on Richemont 2022.
Click here to read Kathy Hooper's synopsis of students' reports on the course at Richemont 2022.
Short Course at British Bakels Innovation Centre Bicester, September 2023
Twelve young bakers drawn from Colleges, Universities and Bakeries in the UK and Northern Ireland came together at the renowned Bakels Innovation Centre in Bicester for three days of education, enlightenment and product innovation.
They were given insights into bakery market trends, marketing and new product development by specialists on the Bakels team, and Assistant Sara Autton was invited to give a demonstration and lecture on the technology of sourdough production. After this, the student cohort was divided into groups of three and each given the brief to develop an innovative bakery product. They were tasked with developing, producing and costing the product; then presenting it with a marketing strategy to a panel of judges. The panel comprised members of the Bakels team, along with Sara Autton, Graham Duckworth (Bakery tutor from University College Birmingham) and Past Master Patrick Wilkins, who is also President of the Craft Bakers Association.
The products that they developed were a vegan muffin selection box; a cube-shaped Christmas bread; a gluten-free, vegan snack bar; and a novelty vegan cupcake, decorated with a brain, designed for Halloween. The students all worked well together in their groups, presenting their products to the judges with confidence and flair. They fielded the judges’ questions with some skill - even those that caught them slightly off guard!
The winning product was the oat-based, mango snack bar which fitted the brief extremely well. The winning group, Bethan Saunders, Kieran Jenkins and Ellise Bailey were rewarded with Amazon vouchers and a rousing round of applause from everyone else.
The Trade Liaison Committee would like to thank Past Master Paul Morrow and Liveryman Keith Houliston for organising this incredibly successful course which has proved so valuable to these students.
