The OB’s Club

I have of late somehow managed to get my name onto an email address list circulating round members of the St Phillips RC Grammar School Old Boys Club. I left said Birmingham School in 1965 (I might as well have left in ’63 because I failed ‘A’ Levels). The idea of meeting up with a bunch of people who were spotty adolescents when I last saw them nearly 50 years ago is too horrific to contemplate.

But the subject of this post is Old Bakers who have done my two day Microbakery Course. It’s always cheering to hear how they are getting on so it was a real treat to get emails from two of them on the same day. Strangely enough they are only a few miles apart in the (currently) arctic wastes of Suffolk.

Tim Lukehurst was my very first student back in April 2011 and you can now click here to see how well he is doing. He also makes fabulous honey and can teach you Transcendental Meditation – something very useful when dealing with a certain type of customer.

Chris Brown was here as recently as last July and is just about to launch his microbakery – as he says these things always take longer to get off the ground than you imagine. I’ll post links as soon as I hear he has an internet presence. He very generously said of my latest book, “Your Microbakin’ book is excellent, it’s been referred to many times in the last couple of months.” and of Bethesdabasics, “I’ve been trying a few different formulas for basic white and wholewheat sourdough loaves and I keep coming back to your Pain de Campagne, Mick’s classic and 100% wholewheat formulas. They work really well all the time. If you think of putting another book together with your formulas in it, I would definitely buy one.”

You can’t pay for comments like that. God knows I’ve tried.