A Modbury man has been installed as the Western Region President of the Craft Bakers Association.

Michael Astill was accompanied by his wife Jennifer.

He said: “I am extremely proud to represent the many artisan craft bakers in the special area of the South West, I am very fortunate to have kept in touch with many bakers and confectioners and of course the butchers who’ve seen the huge potential in producing pies, sausage rolls, Cornish or Devon pasties on their premises.

“I would put my success over fifty years down to freshness of the product and using the finest ingredients and I know many of my fellow bakers in the independent sector do just that, also customers love a bit of theatre watching the bakers or assistants making and baking on full view of the customers.

“I want to encourage young people to consider the opportunity that our industry and trade offers, especially with apprentice schemes on offer.

“My father, who started as a baker in a village in Yorkshire at the age of 14, would have been very proud of the Astill baking family as my brother David and his wife Sarah plus daughter Sally ran a very successful bakery in Somerset and my two sons Russel and Oliver worked alongside myself in the family bakery also in Somerset and now my Granddaughter Robyn who’s nearly six just loves spending any spare time baking with Granddad Michael.

“My father dreamt up two of our slogans : ‘Anybody’s Butter but only Astills Bread’ and ‘For Goodness Sake eat Astills 100% Wholemeal Bread’.”

The CBA has been the voice of craft bakery since 1887, working with the government and other sectors to safeguard the future of the sector.

The ceremony was held on Wednesday March 29 in Cullompton and was followed by a lunch.

Michael explained: “The craft bakers are very special people as every day or early morning they take raw ingredients and carefully make & fashion many different products and of course they have to be of a high standard and there’s so very many stages in making the bread, confectionery, chocolates and savoury products.”

Michael’s looking forward to meeting many bakers and members of the Craft Bakers Association and also encouraging non member’s to join so as to be able to get the benefits of membership such as training or retraining plus advice on food handling and apprenticeship schemes and all aspects of employing staff and networking with other bakers and confectioners on a national basis.

Peter Ellis is now Vice President.

The South West Bakery Competitions are to be running again this Autumn on the October 15 and will take place at BAKO Western in Cullompton. It’s also open to butchers who make bakery and savoury products.

Michael concluded: “Basically The Craft Bakers are very special people as every day or early morning they take raw ingredients and carefully make and fashion many different products. Of course they have to be of a high standard and there’s so very many stages in making the bread, confectionery, chocolates and savoury products.

You can find out more by contacting Michael on [email protected]