​Ashton’s sugarcraft supremo wins gold!

Fiona Kennedy just loves her cake decoration night class in Ashton Comprehensive School, Cork – and her talent shows in her work. She’s so good her handiwork won gold at a recent Cork Sugarcraft Show. All thanks to a nurturing night class which she started in 2018!

“I was always interested in baking and I’ve a great interest in making flowers. The class also covers making figurines, writing on cakes, covering cakes. The tutor, Kathleen Cronin, is fantastic. She got us to enter the Sugarcraft show which is in Cork every two years and we did very well. Kathleen is so encouraging, she’s great at giving you confidence.”

Fiona's Golden creation for the Cork Sugarcraft Show.

Relaxing
The class has been such a success for Fiona that she has also joined the Cork Sugarcraft Association and met loads of like-minded people. “The cake decorating is a big part of my life now,” she said. “It relaxes my mind – I get so involved in it and forget everything else.”

Stained glass
And her lucky family are the beneficiaries of all her lovely artwork. And, in time, they may also be receiving stained glass gifts! Clearly a creative person, Fiona has just started a stained glass night. “I love it, it’s totally different. With the cake decorating, I practice at home. But with the stained glass, I just go in and work away there on my A4-sized puffin! I love birds and I love the Skelligs in Kerry – we were able to pick anything we’d like to do, so I picked a puffin. Others are making flowers, animals, lighthouses, lampshades.

Fiona is working on a puffin in the Stained Glass class.

Informative
“In both classes, the tutors give a lot of background information. There’s loads to know about sugar – people don’t realise that! And, in the stained glass class, tutor James Nicholl tells us where we might see stained glass windows and how they’re made.
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“The classes are really great – I’ve met such nice and interesting people.”

The cake decorating class in Ashton Community School.