Bloggers Bake for Bumps

Anyone who knows even the slightest thing about me knows that I love to bake. 

And I LOVE babies. 

To combine these things, makes for a happy Meg.

When I was pregnant with Madeleine we rode the usual emotional roller-coaster rides at every doctors appointment.

I had a high risk pregnancy and have a whole swag of medical problems, which I was terrified I was going to pass on to my baby. 

And so whilst we were so excited to see our baby at each scan, we had so many heart-pausing moments while we waited to hear the magical words "everything is normal". 

It was when I was at St Thomas Hospital having my unborn childs' heart scanned for genetic abnormalities that I became emotionally invested in children's hospitals. The care I received and the technology that was available to me blew me away. I was so deeply affected by my experience that I started researching and supporting childrens charities, in the hopes that my small donations would contribute to making a difference to the lives of sick children. 

When Emma from Adventures of a London Kiwi reached out and asked if I wanted to be involved in a baking afternoon tea for a children's research charity Sparks, she had me at "for babies". With  many of my friends expecting or new mums, I had so many little babies in my heart when I took part of #bakeforbumps this past weekend.

Sparks is a charity in the UK that have been running for about 50 years, and invests in research to make babies well. Through the research they fund, Sparks is advancing the clinical understanding and treatment of conditions affecting babies, children and mums-to-be.

On Saturday afternoon a group of 12 bloggers gathered in Chiswick for an afternoon tea in support of the Bake for Bumps campaign. In lieu of paying for a fancy afternoon tea out in London, we all contributed home-baked treats and donated the money we would have otherwise spent to Sparks. 

La Mancha generously provided the function room for the afternoon and we even had the CEO of Sparks,  Zillah Bingley, drop in and join us for a wee bubble or two. Listening to Zillah talk about the various research projects being funded and proposed for pregnant women and infants was truly inspiring. 

I wanted to put my baking best forward for the cause and so made mini-financiers, mini-pavlova's and also made some Macadamia Nut Brittle to pop in everyone's goodie bags. 

If you'd like to get involved, you can still host your own #bakeforbumps (the official weekend is this coming weekend) or you can donate to our collection here! They are held twice a year, and you can be certain that we'll be doing this again, so keep your ears pealed for our next one if you'd like to be part of it. 

It was such a lovely opportunity to gather a group of women who are not only foodies, but who care.

Emma did such a wonderful job organising this event, she has done Sparks and herself proud. I look forward to the next one in 6 months time. #bakeforbumps 

Psst!! If you are looking for a little more meg-made, I'd LOVE for you to follow along!