Bake Off star Tasha brings her show-stopping cakes to Hearing Dogs cake sale

Tasha, who stole viewers hearts as the programme’s first ever deaf contestant, visited the sale with her mum, bringing with her some of her show-stopping bakes, Raspberry Brownies, which were given away on the day as one of the raffle prizes.

Tasha was born hearing, but was profoundly deaf by the time she was nine months old. She has a cochlear implant and communicates with both speech and British Sign Language. She is currently on the waiting list for her own hearing dog.

The legendary sales, which are organised and run by long-standing Hearing Dogs volunteers, Fiona and Rob Daniels, have grown from very humble beginnings into one of the most popular fixtures in the Hearing Dogs calendar. In fact, since they began in 2020, the team has raised a staggering £80,000.

Fiona explains: “We used to take plants we’d grown into The Grange and sell them at Hearing Dogs volunteer coffee afternoons. They seemed quite popular, so we continued planting and growing seedlings ready for the next sales.

“When covid hit, we had all these spare plants that we couldn’t take to The Grange, so we set up a table outside our house. We made over £200 that weekend.”

Spurred on by this success, Fiona and Rob began holding sales more frequently. “On VE Day, we joined forces with our fellow volunteers, Peter Shepperd and Wendy Baldwin. This time we also sold cakes, and we were stunned to have people queueing around the corner of our road. That sale raised £900 for Hearing Dogs!

“After that, we began making chutneys and preserves from fruit and veg we’d grown and Peter made his famous pasties and chilli sauces. And things just grew from there.

“We hold the sales between March and October every year and started holding them at The Grange in 2021 as well, to enable more people to get together.”

The next plant, preserve and cake sale at The Grange, Saunderton will be held on 8th June.

Anyone interested in following in Fiona and Rob’s footsteps and becoming a volunteer puppy trainer for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, or in helping the charity out in other ways, can visit Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, email: [email protected] or call the charity on 01844 348129.