The members of Scania (Great Britain) Limited’s Executive Management team (see Editor’s note) have supported the company’s national charity partner, Cancer Research UK, by taking part in ‘The Great Executive Team Bake Off Challenge’ as part of ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ month.
The senior management team were paired into six teams at the Milton Keynes Cookery School, who supported Scania to facilitate this event. Each pair were provided with a workstation, recipe card, ingredients, utensils and an oven to prepare their culinary masterpieces.
Throughout the event, Scania’s Managing Director James Armstrong and Gemma Kitching of Cancer Research UK (Gemma is the assigned Relationship Manager for Scania) adopted the roles of TV bakers Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith by quizzing each pair of cooks and critiquing their work.
A series of videos were created to support the campaign and were shown daily, over the period of a week to all employees, in an effort to whet their appetite and invite them to ‘vote and donate’ for the Best Bake.
At the end of a fun and competitive day of baking, James and Gemma judged the cakes before announcing Transformation Director Karima Haji and Services Director Mark Grant as their choice of Star Bakers, with their delicious Coffee & Walnut cake.
“I have to say that while I know we have a superb management team I didn’t realise they were also such excellent cooks,” comments James Armstrong. “It was an enjoyable day, the team really embraced the challenge and had fun, delivering Gemma and I with an impressive selection of cakes. Karima and Mark’s coffee and walnut cake rose above the rest to claim a well deserved victory!
Everyone enjoyed stepping aside from their usual day to support this event and yes we had fun, but we were also keen to deliver the essence (not just the vanilla type) of why it’s important that we all ‘stand up to cancer’.”
In true Bake Off style, the cakes will now be put to the popular vote with all Scania employees being invited to pick their own winner in exchange for a donation to Cancer Research UK. By voting for their favourite Executive Bake, participants will be entered into a draw which will see the winner receive a professionally made version of the winning cake together with a Star Baker apron, tea towel set and a pair of oven gloves.
The employee vote (and donations) will remain open for the month of October and Scania GB will match fund anything raised by employees in relation to this activity.
For Cancer Research UK, Gemma Kitching comments: “Stand Up To Cancer is now in its ninth year in the UK and we are very grateful to Scania (Great Britain) Limited for helping us to continue our mission with this fundraising Executive Bake Off. One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime, but all of us can play a part to help beat it. All money raised will go directly to our life-saving research, helping our tireless scientists face their own feat of endurance to constantly develop tests and treatments for those who need them most. If we all stand united, we can save lives.
“Stand Up To Cancer has so far raised more than £84 million, funding 59 clinical trials and projects involving over 19,000 cancer patients across the country. These include the development of new treatments that use viruses to fight cancer, clinical trials testing potentially more effective ways to deliver radiotherapy and improved surgical techniques for bowel cancer.”
Editor’s note
The 12 managers competing in Scania’s Executive Bake Off were paired as follows:
- Clare Booth (People & Culture Director) and David Maughan (Acting Dealer Director – North)
- Vincente Connolly (Sales Director) and Nigel Jones (Dealer Director – South West)
- Paul Smith (Marketing Director) and James Colbourne (Dealer Director – Scotland)
- Richard Gray (Finance Director) and Neal Walker (Interim Dealer Director – South Central)
- Mark Grant (Services Director) and Karima Haji (Transformation Director)
- Steve Affleck (Dealer Director – East) and Paul Brady (Dealer Director – South East)
About Stand Up To Cancer (UK)
- Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that brings the UK together to speed up progress in life-saving cancer research
- Supported by the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) in the US and launched in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer funds translational research, turning academic breakthroughs in the labs into new treatments that make a real difference for people with cancer
- More than £84 million has been raised in the UK to date, funding 59 clinical trials and projects involving over 19,000 cancer patients across the country
- Research projects include the development of new treatments that use viruses to fight cancer, clinical trials testing potentially more effective ways to deliver radiotherapy, improved surgical techniques for bowel cancer and much more
- Stars such as Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Idris Elba, Andy Murray, James Corden, Martin Freeman, Jamie Oliver, Richard Ayoade, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy, Danny Dyer, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Lily James, Rosamund Pike, Sophie Turner, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, Maya Jama, Joe Lycett and Roman Kemp are just some of the talent who have supported Stand Up To Cancer
- To find out more about Stand Up To Cancer and how you can support, visit su2c.org.ukor channel4.com/SU2C
