Julie cooks up a baker’s dozen times two and more for Lancaster hospice

Julie Duncan was urged by her daughter to take part in the 2.6 Challenge created by the London Marathon Events team and other organisations to mark what should have been the 40th London Marathon on April 26, the world’s biggest one-day fundraising event.

Julie, who works in the Quality and Governance Department at St John’s Hospice, said, as the London Marathon was always a major fundraiser for the hospice, her colleagues had all been asked to come up with ideas to support the 2.6 challenge.

“We were all asked to dream up an activity based around the numbers 2 and 6 – run 2.6 miles, 26 press-ups, 26 pancake flips – you name it – as a fundraiser or donation to St John’s Hospice,” explained Julie.

“We could do anything we wanted provided it followed the Government’s guidance on social distancing so I decided to bake 26 cakes and sell them.”

As Julie’s daughter Natalie, a Bank Nurse at St John’s, had been due to marry her fiancé Ben on Saturday, Julie’s 2.6 challenge inspiration came from what should have been their wedding day – postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“So this was the trigger for my challenge,” explained Julie, who also made a special ‘No Wedding Today’ mini cake for her daughter and prospective son-in-law as part of a delicious champagne breakfast hamper which was delivered to their house doorstep instead.

“I set to and baked 26 cakes and displayed them on a plant stand at the back of my house, which edges the canal towpath – a popular route for daily exercise walkers and dog owners,” she explained.

Posters invited passers-by to help themselves to cake from the stand, which was restocked as necessary following periodic checks by Julie from her kitchen window – a safe distance away.

“St John’s Hospice needs kindness and support to help keep our nurses nursing and walkers, passers-by and the residents of Bolton-le-Sands have certainly shown unlimited amounts of both…I cannot thank them enough,” said Julie.

The fundraising event was so successful that Julie, who has now enlisted the help of friend and former hospice fundraiser and keen baker Helen Soutar, plans to do a re-run this coming weekend.