Comic Relief helps women with a fresh start through baking

Breaking the cycle of homelessness, addiction or abuse can feel impossible for women facing multiple disadvantages.

But Leonie Letitia and Katie Catt have managed it by completing a programme run by Luminary Women, a charity that empowers women through baking.

They have learned to make cakes and pastries to industry standard and gained transferable skills to secure long-term employment and rebuild their lives.

Katie said it gave her "the chance to retrain in something that's actually really therapeutic".

"I wouldn't be here," said Leonie, "I wouldn't be as shining as I am", without the help of the grassroots charity, which is part-funded by Comic Relief donations.

Katie is an apprentice now at the Luminary Bakery in Hackney, having completed the two-year course with Luminary Women.

After 20 years working in property management, her life unravelled when she reported her ex-partner to the police for domestic abuse in 2014.

She had to wait until 2024 for justice.

Katie said the trauma, lengthy police investigation and court delays cost her her job and home.

"I've served 10 years — going to court, having to move, having to always look over my shoulder," she said.

"Just being with Luminary, they kind of gave me that safety net, the support of other women on the course."

The corporate world she was in didn't support her, Katie said.

But it is different in the Luminary Bakery.

"Everyone's so calm around you and I was never used to calm.

"It's different to be in a workplace where you can make a mistake and you're not judged for it."

The charity supports around 100 women a year to take the programme, which is broken into sections.

Women first learn to bake, then develop employment skills, receive mentoring and are ultimately supported to find a job and live independently.

When Leonie was introduced to Luminary Women, she was living in a hostel and had spent most of her 20s "in a dark place".

"I was just in and out of hospital multiple times, suffering with different substance misuse, alcohol problems, just mental health in general, trauma in general," she said.

"Through Luminary... I have built trust with myself and built trust with other people because we do need support."

Leonie's intention was to learn to bake, eat the cake and leave but she is now on the advisory panel, alongside building a career in the charity sector.

The programme introduced her to poetry and, through that, she has found her voice.

"To believe, achieve and hope again," she said, reciting a line from a poem she has written.

"And do you believe in yourself?" I asked her.

"I do believe in myself now! And that is through Luminary. Now, I'm telling my story and I'm being heard and I'm saving other women."

Katie agrees and likes to help those new to the course.

She said: "There's so many women that have been in this situation, where they've been in domestic violence or they've been made homeless because of someone and they will feel lost.

"And that's what I felt, I felt lost.

"I think this has given me a fresh start in life."

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