A whole host of delicious baked goods went on sale at Colman Getty on Tuesday 1 June as staff set up a bakesale to raise money for JK Rowling's children's charity, Lumos. Lumos has been a valued client of ours for several years now and we have recently been working with them to launch their first ever 'Light a Birthday Candle' fundraising initiative on 1 June, International Children's Day.

Lumos works to put a stop to the systematic institutionalisation of disadvantaged children across Eastern and Central Europe. Tragically, year after year, the staff who look after children in these large residential institutions cannot give them the one-to-one attention that they so desperately need. As a result, 1 June is often chosen as a day for children to celebrate, however the notion of their individual birthday is lost - with many children not knowing their actual birth date at all.

'Light a Birthday Candle' asked families, friends, employees and community groups to raise funds by hosting a 'birthday' party, lighting a candle, baking and bringing cakes to work, or by downloading a virtual candle and making a donation via mobile phones. Over the last few months, we have worked tirelessly on the campaign, setting up a partnership with Netmums on a birthday party poll which was covered by GMTV and The Guardian, amongst others, securing a limited edition Lumos cupcake with Peyton & Byrne, the very British bakery, and generating coverage of the initiative in Grazia, Marie Claire and The Lady.

To show our support for the campaign, we decided to have an office bake sale of our own. Sarah, Sheerin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Lizzie and I took to the kitchen over the long weekend, slaving over hot stoves (in some cases), baking brownies, double chocolate cookies, mars bar crispies, lemon cupcakes, rocky road slices and a fabulously extravagant chocolate fruit cake.

Some minor hiccups were faced along the way, with Rebecca going backwards and forwards to the shop as she kept realising vital ingredients were missing. Meanwhile, rookie of the group, Sarah, who had never baked a cake before, got flour all over herself and the kitchen as her sister watched in dismay. There was also near disaster on the Victoria line on the way into work as Sarah dropped her cupcakes on the station platform...thankfully the delicious chocolate treats survived the fall.

All in all, the bakesale was a great success and our money pot was overflowing by the end of the day. All we need do now if fill in our fundraising form and whisk the money over to Lumos' offices.

Blogger: Ellie Backhouse