ON THE face of it you'd he hard pressed to find a link between a tiny bakery in a remote corner of Romania and the somewhat upmarket St Gerard's School, Bray, Co Wicklow. But the fact is that, thanks to the efforts of students, their parents and staff at the co educational school, a thriving bakery, employing six people now exists in an area that was previously forced to do without bread for most of the year.
The story starts back in 1991 when St Gerard's students, stirred by television accounts of the appalling conditions in Romanian orphanages, decided they wanted to help. They began by collecting money - by organising cake sales, table quizzes and a "Clean Up Bray Day" - but very soon they were receiving donations of clothing, medical supplies, soap, turf and food - enough to fill a 25 tonne container.
Ten Transition Year students, three teachers and the school chaplain volunteered to deliver the goods to Romanian orphanages and hospitals. Ford sponsored the hire of a 15 seater minibus, while Irish Express Cargo offered the loan of a container and a truck complete with driver.
"During our stay in Romania we visited two orphanages and a school," recalls Peggy Ennis, who is mistress of girls. "The country was like Ireland in the 1830s. There were desperate shortages and the people had to queue for food. On our return the students were dissatisfied. They felt very strongly that playing Lord and Lady Bountiful was inappropriate. They felt we should do something more permanent." "We discussed the feasibility of sending out a nurse, a carpenter or a plumber and we decided to consult with a teacher we had met in Romania - Constantine Timpau," says the dean of Transition Year, John McKean. "We flew him to Ireland and discussed our options.
Constantine suggested that there was a shortage of bread in the countryside in spring and summer people are working on the land and have no time to bake bread. Constantine returned home and began to search for a site for a bakery. Eventually he found a single storey ruin in the village of Turdas, which we purchased for $2,162." It took two years to convert the ruin and equip the Sugar Loaf Bakery at a total cost of almost $16,000. Between 1992 and 1994 St Gerard's students continued to fund the bakery, using some of the proceeds of the annual school bazaar.
Today the bakery, which uses old fashioned brick ovens, produces 800 loaves per day. The bread is sold from the bakery and from the bakery van which travels to outlying areas. "They're producing, on a shoe string, good quality, low priced bread that the poor can afford," says headmaster Michael O'Horan.
Transition Year students and their parents are now working hard to raise £5,000 to purchase a grain store and upgrade the bakery's transport and equipment. Come Easter, 18 Transition Year volunteers will travel by minibus to Turdas and spend a week painting, digging, erecting a fence and spreading gravel around the bakery.
Both teachers and students found the 1991 trip a humbling experience, but also the "opportunity of a lifetime", says Ennis. "Our students have done something that is quite unique, lasting and far more meaningful than simply sending money to the third world," she says.
