Leighton sisters bake up a storm for Help for Heroes

Sisters Olivia Shipley, 11, and 13-year-old Amelia more than tripled the amount they raised at a similar event last year, collecting an astonishing £509.

Mum Angela – lead nurse for pre-assessment at Milton Keynes Hospital – and dad Paul were roped in to help.

Angela did most of the clearing up after the girls’ mammoth endeavour and smiled: “It took a few hours but I’m embracing their creativity.”

Paul, who works for hydraulic hose company Abdex, was on tea and coffee duty on the big day and also sold raffle tickets to his colleagues, who were all very supportive.

Olivia – in Year 7 at Gilbert Inglefield – wrote to Waitrose before the bake-off to ask if they could help with ingredients. They rang her at school to say they had a bag of flour, eggs, sugar, icing sugar, food colouring and other ingredients for her.

Angela is very proud of her daughters’ initiative. She said: “This year they added a raffle and a Guess the Name of the Bear competition.

“They also bagged up rocky road cakes, shortbread and fudge in gift containers and sold them as ‘cake-aways.’

“I think what they’ve done is fantastic. There was a real community spirit on the day with more than 40 friends and neighbours coming in for tea and cake.”

> Last year Olivia took top honours in the Young Supporters Under 17 section of the Bake for Heroes cake competition.