Kind-hearted Yorkshire baker allows locals to use his oven to bake their Christmas cakes

Ed Hamilton-Trewhitt, 55, decided to open up his ovens to the public after one of his customers told him she wouldn't be able to afford to make her festive fruit cake. The customer normally makes several cakes as a gift for family and friends, but due to the cost of living crisis, she can't afford to buy the ingredients and heat up her oven.

Ed says he was also inspired by a French Medieval tradition where communities would have joint ovens and all come together to cook their Christmas puddings. And just days after having the conversation with the customer, 13 customers dropped their cakes off at Brickyard Bakery in Guisborough, Redcar, on Friday. By the Monday, they were all fully baked and ready to be collected.

This weekend he is expecting double that amount - and thinks it will increase even more on the run up to Christmas.

Ed said: "There's something special about making something for somebody as a present because you put your heart and everything into it. You would rather do that than buy a plastic piece of tinned tat from the shop, that they won't even want. It's just that beautiful thing of making someone something that they are going to really appreciate.

"It just seems such a shame to lose that because of the situation everyone is finding themselves in. I just wanted to help people out a little bit and say that people can use our ovens."

As Ed is paying around £2,000 a month in energy bills, he said he wants 'to get as much use out of' his oven which is why he decided to open it up to the public.

He said: "I'm paying for a fortune for my energy bills and want to get as much use out of my oven as I can so I can get as much use out of that money. We've got to have our ovens on as we can't operate without them. People are having a tough time this year - everyone is worrying about cash and we deserve a nice year after the pandemic.

"It just seems such a shame that it's been snatched away from people again because they have to worry about finances. I can't make a massive difference, but maybe I can make a little bit of a difference."

Ed has said that if any of his customers cannot get to his bakery, he will personally pick and drop their cakes off so they don't have to miss out on having a cake at Christmas.

He also said that the 'reaction has been really positive' and he feels 'very lucky' that he's able to do this for his customers.

The baker said: "The reaction has been really positive, I think everyone is looking for positively at the moment because everyone is struggling. It's nice that people can still make their Christmas cakes despite the horrible costs that are involved now. It's certainly not cheap, never mind with the ingredients alone but there's also the energy prices.

"But it's just a nice thing. I'm very lucky from my point of view that I'm able to be able to get involved in something that's nice."

In October this year, Ed decided to open up a 'warm room' in his bakery to help locals who can't afford to turn their heating on stay warm in the winter months.

The room is directly above Ed's ovens and gets really warm, but was empty until Ed had the idea to open it up as a seating area with free tea and coffee.

Almost three months after opening it up, Ed has said that the room is 'buzzing' with people and has a 'lovely environment.' He said: "That's going really well. I love just popping up every now and again and sometimes you'll walk in and it's buzzing in there. It's just absolutely lovely - people will be chatting and then some knitters will come in who are knitting and getting other people involved and starting them off.

"It's just a lovely environment, it's really quite nice. I wish I could spend more time up there."