East Harling bakery owner continues to rise to the challenge despite a traumatic few months

A bakery owner and single parent to five, who has had to overcome a traumatic few months, is continuing to rise to the challenges of running her own business.

Andrea Buck, 40, of East Harling, began her journey by decorating her children’s birthday cakes with fun designs around five years ago to help make their birthday’s special, before her talents were noticed by friends and family and she started a business from home.

In September, Miss Buck took a leap of faith in opening East Harling Bakery in Market Street, before having her world turned upside down by her daughter being seriously injured in an road accident the following month.

“When I found the unit, I was lucky they took a chance on me, because I told them straight away that I was a single mum, with no finances and no backing, but that I would make it work,” she said.

“I opened on September 17 and it was immediately busy, with people queueing around the block, but after my daughter’s accident, I was ready to pack it all in.”

“She was on a moped and was in a collision with a car and ended up being put in an induced coma.

“She then contracted acute respiratory distress syndrome, which was life threatening, and somewhere around 50 per cent of people don’t survive. She was very poorly for quite a while.

“There were several times when she crashed and they had to rush in and bring her back to life. They had to rebuild her shin with grafts from her thigh because she lost 5cm of bone. She has 22 pins in her leg currently.”

With the sudden shift in priorities, Miss Buck was ready to close her business, but two local residents offered to volunteer and help her stay open.

“A customer and a friend of hers got in touch and said that if wanted to stay open, they would help. I opened again at the beginning of December part-time,” she added.

“They’ve been amazing, and the whole of East Harling and all the critical care staff at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital have, too. They are just phenomenal.

“We’re been open full-time since January, with my daughter now recovering at home and business is going really well. With every passing week, we are doing more trade and it’s getting better and better.

“We’ve just had the outside of the shop refurbished and new signage put up, which looks great.

“Cake decorations have always been my speciality and, although I couldn’t draw a line at school, I love creating elaborate, weird and wacky designs.

“As the children got older, they started requesting more complicated decorations, so I learned as I went along. Having five children gives you plenty of practice.

“When I saw the shop was available, everyone said ‘don’t do it, you have enough going on’, but I went for it and, despite everything that’s happened, it’s now becoming a success.

“We have a good laugh now when I remind those people that they said ‘don’t do it’.

“I always knew I could, because my inspiration has always been to give my children a better life.”