School pupils were given a tour of the Wrexham bakery that came to their rescue after their “Great Crumpet Crisis”.
Youngsters who attend the breakfast club at Wood Memorial Primary School in Saltney were stunned when heartless thieves pinched their crumpets.
When he heard about the theft, Robin Jones, managing director of the Village Bakery, in Wrexham, had a fresh batch of crumpets immediately dispatched to the school to make sure the pupils didn’t miss out.
As an added bonus, a group of 14 children, between years two and six, were invited to come on a visit to see how the crumpets are made.
Robin explained: “A member of staff had read about it in the paper and we were made aware of it so we had a fresh batch of crumpets delivered to the school within 40 minutes of hearing about it. I think they were touched by the gesture.
“It looks like the kids have really enjoyed themselves here today. Some of them may even be our apprentices of the future.
“It’s something fun and educational for them, and they got to learn about how we make the crumpets, the bread and the Welsh cakes.”
The bakery employs more than 300 people and has two bakeries on Wrexham Industrial Estate where the family-run firm is building its new £3 million Baking Academy and Innovation Centre. They also have a bakery in Minera on the outskirts of Wrexham.
During the tour they saw the production line that makes 15,000 crumpets an hour and the line that produces one million scones every year.
The also saw the Baking Academy that’s being built to train the next generation of bakers.
Year three school pupil Owen Roughley, seven, said: “It’s been a really nice day – really, really good. It’s just all been amazing – everything about it. I learned a lot about how the crumpets are made.”
It was sentiment echoed by year four pupil Jessica Archibald, nine.
She added: “I enjoyed everything about it, especially how they make the crumpets because I have them with my granddad. I love crumpets but Welsh cakes are my favourite though.
“I’d like to learn how to make my own Welsh cakes. I think I’d like to work at the Village Bakery one day.”
Year six pupil Riley Hayden, 10, said: “I learned a lot at the Village Bakery today. I wanted to learn about how they make the crumpets. It’s been amazing.”
Teacher Sophie Bevan said: “We were quite shocked that someone would steal crumpets from the school. They took the crumpets and some milk. We tweeted about it and the story ended up in the papers.
“I think what the Village Bakery did was a really lovely thoughtful gesture. It was a really nice thing for them to do.
“The children have really enjoyed themselves here today. It’s really interesting to see how everything is made. We’ve been given another batch of crumpets so we’re looking forward to having them, and we’ve also been given some Welsh cakes and we’ll be having them on the way home.”
