1.         To receive the Accounts and Balance Sheet of the Co-operative and the Reports of the Committee.

2.          To vote for exemption from audit as outlined in clause 54c of the constitution

54.       (a)               Subject to clause (b) below, the Co-operative shall appoint in each      financial year an auditor qualified under section 7 of the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968 to audit the Co-operative’s accounts and balance sheet for the year.

(b)           The Co-operative shall (subject to Rule 54 (c)) be exempt from the obligation to appoint a qualified auditor if during the preceding financial year it met such criteria regarding low levels of income and/or expenditure or other factors as to qualify it for statutory exemption from the need to appoint qualified auditors.

 (c)           The members of the Co-operative shall in general meeting vote every year to allow the Co-operative to apply the audit exemption. Such a resolution shall be deemed to have been passed if less than 20 per cent of the total number of votes cast are against the resolution and less than ten per cent of the members of the co-operative cast their votes against the resolution.

 3          To vote on constitutional amendments to

 (i)         Share Capital

(ii)         Structure of Management Committee

 4          To note the retirement of the existing Committee Members and to elect new, and/or re-elect existing, Committee Members.

5          To decide on the application of profits

6          To transact any other competent business

BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE

_______________________

Date:   9^th May 2012

‘The Bakery’ is an innovative and high profile social enterprise and co-operative based in Dunbar, East Lothian. Additional volunteer committee members are required who are strategic thinkers and have skills and experience in the following areas:

• Catering, retail or commercial baking • Accountancy and finance

• Marketing and communication • Business and human resources management • IT

The organisation is community-owned by over 400 shareholders. This is an opportunity to have a positive impact on the social and economic regeneration of our locality.

If you want to serve the communities in Dunbar and believe you have useful skills to help us deliver our aims then please  register your interest or find out more by contacting Robert Powell on:

Tel: 01368 850296

Mobile: 0774 697 9562

Email: treasurer@thebakerydunbar.org

Ross Baxter making delicious French macaroons

Scrumptious cakes and traditional artisan bread are flying off the shelves at The Bakery in Dunbar as Ross Baxter, one of Scotland’s brightest young talents in baking, steps in to take charge.

Ross, 28, won the accolade of Scottish Patissier of the Year in 2011, when he was working as Head Pastry Chef at Greywalls Hotel in nearby Gullane. His previous experience incudes working under Michelin Star chefs Albert Roux and Michael Caines.

Ross joined Dunbar’s Community-owned bakery in April and is now running the small but dynamic East Lothian business as Head Baker and Business Manager.

He has already widened the range of fresh produce baked on the premises to include a new range of luxury cakes and tarts.

Alongside The Bakery’s flagship Belhaven loaf – a brown wholemeal loaf made with beer from the local brewery – the shop is now selling mouthwatering treats such as raspberry and lemon cream tarts, dark chocolate and hazelnut eclairs and roasted vanilla pineapple and coconut cake.

These are attracting foodies from far and wide, including the 286 patisserie enthusiasts who follow Ross on Twitter @RossPatissier.

Ross said: “This is an exciting chance for me to run a business that serves the local community by producing top quality bread, cakes, pies and savouries at affordable prices. Three assistant bakers who are already working in The Bakery will shortly start on apprenticeships. We are committed to investing in the professional development of all our staff.”

The Bakery is owned by Dunbar Community Bakery, a co-operative owned by 476 shareholders. Most are local residents and regular customers. All are entitled to a 10% discount on goods purchased.

The Bakery opened on Dunbar High Street in October 2011 to fill a gap left by the closure of the town’s last home bakery three years earlier.

Jane Wood, the Chairperson of Dunbar Community Bakery, said the business was now finding its feet and was establishing a strong niche market.

“The arrival of Ross has enabled us to take a huge leap forward in terms of the quality and the variety of what we produce. Ross and his team will ensure we consistently maintain the quality of all the goods in our product range, ensuring that all our ingredients are free of artificial additives,” she said.

Polish baker Dariusz Pawlowski heads up the night shift that produces most of the bread, including a splendid range of Polish style sourdough loaves.

The Bakery will soon start to offer an extended range of savoury pies, tarts, quiches and other treats as Czech savouries specialist Pavel Broz, a former colleague of Ross at Greywalls Hotel, joins the team in May.

Commenting on the new product range, Jane Wood said:

“People are coming from across Scotland to sample our produce and see how a community bakery can work as a sustainable business, turning out top quality goods.

Our bread and cakes are hand-made with the finest ingredients. That is why they cost more to make than the sort of bakery goods that you find on supermarket shelves. But this quality, and our customer service, is how we differentiate ourselves in the market place. As a social enterprise it is critical that our business model is sustainable so we can deliver the community benefit that we pledged at the start of this journey ”

The Bakery in Dunbar has made a strong start to trading during its first four months of business. Weekly sales figures have been close to those targeted in the business plan. Our finances remain sound.

The community-owned business has also attracted strong public support. Since The Bakery opened on Dunbar High Street on October 6th 2011 we have signed up 150 new shareholders.

Dunbar Community Bakery now has more than 450 shareholders, most of whom are also regular customers. All are entitled to a 10% discount on goods purchased.

The Management Committee would like to pay tribute to all the hard-working staff of The Bakery who have made this business such an immediate success.

We are delighted to be fulfilling our social mandate of providing new jobs in the community.

The Bakery currently employs six people full-time, five of whom were previously unemployed. We also have six part-time staff. We hope to offer our first apprenticeships later this year.

Dunbar Community Bakery is proud to have enriched the retail offering on the High Street. We have created an attractive new shop selling high quality bread, savouries and cakes made freshly on the premises. We are helping to attract more customers to all retail outlets in this living heart of the community.

Like many new businesses, we have found it necessary to make some early adjustments in our products and pricing. There have also been a couple of changes in the team line-up.

These course corrections will help to ensure realism in our pricing, rigour in our financial management and consistency of quality in our product range.

They will enable us to meet market demand, promote healthy eating and remain financially sustainable.

The Bakery is currently being managed on a provisional basis by Janet Barnes, a member of the Management Committee. She is implementing a series of necessary adjustments. We shall conduct an open recruitment exercise for a permanent business manager in the near future.

The Management Committee

20th February 2012

We will still open on Sunday 10am to 2pm. And will review our opening hours from time to time – if there is a demand we will try our best to meet it.

Unfortunately our head baker Keith Murray as left the bakery and we are now making plans to change the staff team to ensure that we deliver and improve our services to customers.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Keith for his efforts during our set up phase and to wish him every success for the future.

They also sampled a range of our products and left very positive feedback in our visitor’s book! We expect to see them popping back in soon  for more sausage rolls – and some were very keen to come back for a work experience placement.

This is one of the areas that the bakery is keen to develop – we want to help foster an interest and understanding in quality baking and understanding the food chain. So we will offer work experience placements and will introduce a range of training and information workshops during 2012.

• We will gladly offer a cup of coffee to anyone willing to help out for an hour – folding cake boxes, stamping Merry Christmas on our bags, tidying up, giving out leaflets – there are always things to be done!
• Keeping our window and shop baskets filled with goods from the bakery
• Speaking to customers, explaining the benefits of becoming a shareholder and helping them to fill in the application form
• Hosting a stall at a community event, giving samples and explaining all about the bakery
• Covering an occasional shift – for example if a member of staff is ill or on holiday
• Doing a regular half day shift –  especially to help out during the busy times

If you think you can help in some other way just let us know.

We will provide training and everything you need to do the job and will even reward you with a loaf and a few sausage rolls! Just pop into the bakery and ask to speak to our manager Janet or telephone her on 01368 238 178.

Cheers!

Some new products available this week have included sun-blush tomato, olive and caramelised onion mini breads, we also had some chilli and olive sourdoughs!

Finally, we added some savoury breads with tomato, pesto & mozzarella and haggis & sweet potato!