The following article has been taken from "True Loaf.....Sowing the Seeds of Loaf", the quarterly magazine for the Real Bread Campaign members ~ Issue 10.  There are many more articles to enjoy in the magazine or on their website www.realbreadcampaign.org

 

We are really proud that the Lantern Bakery is a member of the Real Bread Campaign ~ hope you enjoy the Lantern Bakery contribution.

"The Lantern Bakery aspires to create a delicious, high quality product range, using traditional handcrafted methods and natural organic ingredients. It is one of the many workshops in the Lantern Community, located on the outskirts of Ringwood, Hampshire which is part of the international Camphill Movement, providing meaningful work opportunities and home life for adults with a learning disability. The Lantern Community is home for 30 residents with a learning disability together with resident and non-resident support staff and students from around the world who volunteer for one year. The residential staff is composed of those who live onsite with their families or who are retired, having spent their lives living and working in Camphill. The Lantern Community aims to provide a home life, fulfilling work, friendship, social interaction, opportunities for personal growth, adult education and cultural and spiritual inspiration for adults with a learning disability. This takes place in an intentional community which develops from the mutual support that each individual gives and receives.

There are many workshops on site which the residents are involved in such as weaving, pottery, woodwork, crafts, art, garden and estate work and a beautiful shop and café which is the focus of the Lantern, where the public interact with the life of the community.

In the Lantern Bakery there is the opportunity for the residents to experience the process of creating "our daily bread" from the beginning to the end as well as the development of a good work ethos where everyone takes pride in what they have created. The atmosphere in the bakery is a positive one, where each person knows their role in the bread making process and is proud to be part of the team.

Some of the residents who work in the bakery have been bakers for 20 years, building on their skills and knowledge each year. The experience of being there each day and contributing in a positive way with such a meaningful and worth-while outcome helps build confidence and a sense of purpose and

achievement.

Gareth has been a baker for over 20 years and he says "My job is to prepare the cheese buns with pumpkinseed topping, I like doing this". These buns are one of our top selling products. Simon has also been a baker for many years he says, "It is my job to weigh the flour and mould the bread" and Lee said "I do the tins and mould the bread every morning".

From Monday to Friday, each morning the bakery team produces a variety of healthy wholesome organic breads and rolls, all baked with love for our customers. In addition there is a special wheat free and dairy free dietary range available on certain days as well as pastries and organic handmade biscuits. The bread, pastries and biscuits which are baked each day are sold in our onsite shop and the bakery also provides bread for the 100+ residents living onsite in the community. The bakery team has also just begun to go to Ringwood Market each week, selling a wide variety of loaves, pastries and biscuits. This has been a great opportunity for people to get to know about the specialty breads we bake and to know they can buy our products each day from our beautiful onsite shop and taste the bread in our wholefood café. At the market we have

a sign which proudly states "The  Lantern Bakery is a member of the Real Bread Campaign".

The Lantern Bakery prides itself on preparing and baking bread the "old fashioned way" using organic ingredients wherever possible without additives or preservatives in any of the products. This is not an ordinary bakery and involves much more than simply baking a loaf of bread. It provides meaningful work which makes a difference to many people's lives. Through their work, individuals gain dignity and a sense of self-worth. There is an unspoken reverence and respect for the daily bread that is baked in the Lantern Bakery, there is recognition that a good loaf, baked with so much love and care, feeds much more than just the body."

                                                                                                                                                Emma, for the Bakery Team