THE CREATIVE youngster who won a competition by two Tavistock food charities to ice a cake for the King’s Coronation, has been presented with her prize.

A food aid worker organised a special Coronation competition to ice a cake ‘fit for a king’.

Graham Parker, who volunteers for Devon and Cornwall Food Action (supplying food boxes to people in need) and TaviHelps (delivering meals to struggling people) appealed for creative sweet-toothed youngsters to help raise funds for people in food poverty.

Set the task of decorating a cake to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles, 16 young people under the age of 16 rose to the challenge. Their cake decorations were imaginative and produced an amazing range of entries that gave the judges a real challenge. Rosie Walker’s patriotic cake was declared the winner.

Graham said: “Devon and Cornwall Food Action was donated hundreds of crown-shaped light Italian Pandora sponge cakes and they were stored in our warehouse in Plymouth ready for distribution. We asked younger people to use their imagination to decorate one in a royal theme to mark the Coronation. We were delighted with the reaction and enthusiasm. There were a lot of imaginative interpretations which was lovely to see.”

“Sorting out a winner was extremely difficult,”, said judge Cllr Paul Ward, former mayor and now deputy mayor of Tavistock. “There was such a variety and so much flair in all of the entries, that there were many contenders for first prize. However, eventually, we agreed that Rosie’s entry, with icing, photographs and flags, captured the essence of the competition perfectly.”

Rosie, aged ten, said: “I just loved doing the icing. It was such good fun.” Rosie is a keen fan of the Royal Family and, although she did the King proud with her superb entry, she admitted that her favourite Royal is still Her Majesty, the former Queen Elizabeth II.

Graham Parker, from TaviHelps, presented Rosie with a £50 Tavistock Gift Card, sponsored by Nigel Eadie, former owner of The Original Pasty House. This can be spent at shops throughout Tavistock and, when asked what she would be spending it on, Rosie said that she would be heading straight for the toy shops.

Devon and Cornwall Food Action in Roborough, which work with Feeding Devon, collect surplus food from food industries such as supermarkets and bring it to food hubs to ensure it does not go to landfill sites. The food, which is close to its ‘use by’ or ‘sell by’ dates, but still fit to eat, is distributed to the community, who pay for food boxes at a quarter of their normal price.

TaviHelps is an army of volunteers helping support the food hub, distributing food to hard-up families in Tavistock.