Rachel Stonehouse - Rising Hope: Inspiring Life Stories and Recipes from Luminary Bakery

Contents

Contents

BY ALICE WILLIAMS, FOUNDER OF LUMINARY BAKERY

If you were to walk into a Luminary Bakery on an ordinary day, you would be met with the smell of freshly baked cinnamon swirls and a warm greeting from one of our caf team. You would see a mix of locals gathering for a quiet coffee or holding a meeting, the hustle and bustle of cakes being decorated, and you might see several women coming in and being greeted like family.

Luminary is a London-based bakery on a mission to empower some of the UKs most disadvantaged women. In this book, you are invited behind the scenes, to learn our treasured recipes and hear the stories of hope that rise behind our bakery doors.

Over the years, we have often been asked to write a recipe book, with loyal customers longing to know the secret to our cinnamon swirls or fluffy focaccia. And many of the women we have supported through baking have been keen to share their life stories, to encourage others to find hope in any circumstances. We have met so many courageous women, and working with them to create this book has given us all the opportunity to reflect on how far we have come as individuals, as well as collectively.

Meeting women who were experiencing extreme poverty, disadvantage, and violence was the inspiration for starting Luminary. There was one encounter in particular that stands out in my mind...

I remember where I was when I met her, standing on Vallance Road near Whitechapel at one oclock in the morning, with the City of London skyline behind us. I was volunteering with a local charity, Door of Hope, taking out necessary supplies to women working in the red-light area. She was cold, fed up, and not making enough money. When I asked if there were any other ways for her to earn an income, she replied, I dont know how to do anything else, Ive been doing this since I was thirteen.

I met many women like her and not just those street-working; I also volunteered in a homeless hostel, many of whose female residents had experienced abuse and were living in poverty. The world of skyscrapers, wealth, high-end restaurants, and coffee chainsjust a stones throw away from where they were livingcould have been a million miles away for the lack of opportunities it offered them. All had lived through harrowing things and yet they were survivors, fighters, hustlers, mothers, defendersthese women had potential. I couldnt stand by and see it go to waste. I couldnt bear to see them struggling to get by every day, questioning their value, and unable to provide a different future for their children.

Although we didnt have much, our small team from a local church (Kahaila on Brick Lane, London) decided to set about changing the landscape for these local women forever. Abigail Mifsud (a food blogger and home baker), Sarah Harrison (a home baker and a volunteer chef in the homeless hostel), and I decided to use the skills our team had and began to teach the women we met how to bake.

Initially, this was just for women in the homeless hostel, which was a great setting for us to start getting to know local women. Each of them had a different journey that had led them there: some had fled a violent partner; some had left prison and had nowhere to go; some had been rough sleeping and this was finally a place to call home. Some of the women were already great cooks and some had never tried baking before, but they all wanted the opportunity to do something creative, something for themselves, and something they could share with others. Their skills began to improve and we spent time investing in them as individuals, in their personal growth, overcoming trauma, and preparing to build a career in the food industry.

And hope began to rise.

Another local church generously gave us space in their kitchen to bake products to sell at Kahaila Caf, and we took samples to other local companies. Our little business gained momentum and we secured a contract with Ben & Jerrys to provide all the baked goods for their first UK store. We soon outgrew the church kitchen and had the opportunity to move into a larger kitchen nearby. Here, we brought in even more women to train.

The first day of our training course is always nerve-racking for trainees as they take the brave step to enter a new environment and open themselves up to the support of both the Luminary team and their fellow trainees. Baking can feel intimidating for someperhaps you have a hint of that same trepidation opening this book for the first time. But at Luminary, baking is for everyone. One baking session stands out in my memory, when a woman who struggled with her concentration and comprehension of theory eventually saw her loaf of bread come out of the oven. She burst into tears and exclaimed, I cant have made that! Its so perfect! When we finally convinced her that it was in fact her loaf, her confidence soared.

We start with the basics, as our trainees venture into the world of baking and begin to understand the importance of thoroughly reading a recipe before enthusiastically launching in. Then, we gradually build on their accomplishments, challenging them with more technical bakes as their skills and confidence grow. You are welcome to take a similar approach, challenging yourself to try a new product weekly, as our women do, or simply dip into the book to try out a new recipe when you fancy, or have an occasion to bake for.

The support we offer women at Luminary is not just centered around bakingwe also want women to learn, to dream, and to share with one another. Seeing them start to take brave steps in opening up is magical. As Bren Brown says, We cant be brave in the big world without at least one small safe space to work through our fears and falls. This is the space Luminary has always sought to be. There is no judgment hereabout your past, present, or your future.

As Luminary has grown, we have built strong partnerships with organizations who support women with traumatic life experiences. They might have survived human trafficking, domestic abuse, the criminal justice system, or leaving care. Often, the common factors that they have each lived through are poverty, homelessness, and mental health issues as a result of the trauma they have endured. Some services classify women who have experienced this type of multiple disadvantage as vulnerable adults, and while it is important to recognize where people need extra support, in our experience women shouldnt necessarily be labeled as vulnerable. After all, it is their strength and resilience that has got them to where they are today. At Luminary, we have moved toward the word disadvantaged. This makes it clear that the womens life experiences are down to their situation, and not a comment on their strength of character.

One of our favorite moments every year is the graduation ceremony that we hold to celebrate our women completing the full six-month program. At this, they display their showstopping cakes and we present them with their certificates. Our first group of trainees graduated in March 2015, at one of the most powerful and emotional evenings Ive ever experienced. They invited friends and family, showcased their impressive bakes, shared a little of their stories, and we celebrated them. They deserved it. These women, and the many others who have graduated sincethe women in this bookare now making their way in the world, building their careers, and inspiring us every day.

Luminary Bakery found its very own home in 2016, on Allen Road in Stoke Newington, London, after two years of baking in generous kitchens nearby. It had always been our dream to move from wholesale production to opening our doors to the public, creating more job opportunities for the women we train. And with the help of significant grants and a crowdfunding campaign to buy equipment, this vision became a reality. Our fourth cohort started their training the day after we moved in; needless to say, it was chaos!