Bake Sale
Gran may not be the greatest cook,
she doesn’t own a recipe book,
can’t be bothered to measure or weigh,
doesn’t care what people say
but baking with gran is always fun,
Victoria sponge or currant bun,
Eccles cake or chocolate éclair
from whatever ingredients are there.
Gran doesn’t mind if she’s out of butter,
no flour or eggs? No cocoa? No matter,
she chucks what she has got into the bowl
and it turns out ok (well, on the whole!)
When I needed cookies for the Christmas stall,
gran said OK, no trouble at all
and all afternoon we stirred and rolled,
she winked at me, You’re never too old;
all my life I’ve loved to bake
it’s just amazing what you can make
with a mixing bowl and a rolling pin
so roll your sleeves up and get stuck in!
she doesn’t own a recipe book,
can’t be bothered to measure or weigh,
doesn’t care what people say
but baking with gran is always fun,
Victoria sponge or currant bun,
Eccles cake or chocolate éclair
from whatever ingredients are there.
Gran doesn’t mind if she’s out of butter,
no flour or eggs? No cocoa? No matter,
she chucks what she has got into the bowl
and it turns out ok (well, on the whole!)
When I needed cookies for the Christmas stall,
gran said OK, no trouble at all
and all afternoon we stirred and rolled,
she winked at me, You’re never too old;
all my life I’ve loved to bake
it’s just amazing what you can make
with a mixing bowl and a rolling pin
so roll your sleeves up and get stuck in!
This poem is copyright (©) Carole Bromley 2025

About the Writer
Carole Bromley
Carole has won the Caterpillar Prize and had poems in Tyger, Tyger, The Toy, Paper Lanterns, Paperbound, Little Thoughts Press and Northern Gravy as well as in her collection, Blast Off! and anthologies from MacMillan, Nosy Crow and Emma Press. She does readings and workshops at festivals and in schools and in 2024 is tutoring courses on writing poetry for children at the Garsdale Retreat and for the Writing School online.