About JubyLee.
Sitting, chatting in a coffee shop in Crawley two parents of JLB young people (YPs) were discussing what the future would hold for their children. Time was coming to finish school and start college and much as education had gone well, the prospect of great exam results and good jobs wasn’t looking too promising.
This then, was the beginning of the dream of JubyLee Bakes.
Ellen and Kim then spoke to friends about their idea, and gradually interested YPs joined the group.
The question though was how to take the idea forward. This was answered one day at Collyers when Emily (one of the tutors) handed a leaflet to a group of the students, suggesting that maybe entering a competition could lead to JubyLee Bakes becoming a reality.
So the journey towards entering the Gatwick Diamond Young Start Up Talent 2016 began.
Meetings were held, cards printed and Simon prepared for a speed networking workshop in January 2016. He impressed all present with his passion for JubyLee Bakes and the team were asked to continue to the next round of the competition process.
Advice and support was offered, and accepted. A Dragons Den style presentation was given at Thales in Crawley, to a group of judges who had a lot of questions to ask and ate lots of samples of cake.
An evening visit to Brighton Sea Life centre to network, hear speeches from the judges and see the film of the Brighton YST competition was next.
In March 2016 we went along with our families to a presentation ceremony at Lingfield race course along with the other finalists, all of whom had interesting business propositions.
The winners were announced and, YES, it was JubyLee Bakes!
What next?
We are currently selling our Bakes to Crates Local Horsham, Cafe Revive Crawley, Meadow Cafe and Stores Thakeham and Handcross Hardware and Crafts. Collyer's College,Horsham and Ardingly College also regularly take our bakes. In addition we sell monthly at Pulborough Village and Farmers' Market and have supplied Bakes and homemade lemonade at Horsham Garden Music Festival, Thakeham Flower Festival, and Cuckfield Bonfire Night, as well as many other events including Refugee Tales.
In February 2020 we became JubyLee Bakes CIO - a registered Charity (Charity no 1188066)
In 2019 we entered the Big Lottery Community Fund's People's Projects competition for funding to establish our own kitchen- and guess what? - We WON - with the greatest number of votes of all the projects in the UK! Huge thanks to all our supporters! Building work has been complete since July 2021 on our 5* food hygiene rated kitchen in Thakeham!
Please follow us on Social Media to watch our ongoing journey!
www.facebook.com/jubyleebake
www.instagram.com/jubyleebakes
So what does the future hold? Definitely selling lots of bakes, in conjunction with running our own 5* kitchen!! We are proud of our Food Hygiene qualifications and aim to maintain the highest standards.
We would like to welcome more young adults with learning disabilities to join our happy team. In 2023 we won the Horsham Voluntary Sector Support Dream Team Award!
In 2024 we were awarded the prestigious international Guild of Fine Food Great Taste 1* Awards for three of our traybakes!
As a team we love to be out in the community serving customers and promoting the positive face of learning disability. We have started doing some catering and were delighted to cater for Arundel Museum's 10th Anniversary at Arundel Castle in the presence of the Duchess of Norfolk!
Who is JubyLee?
JubyLee is a giraffe made by Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School in Horsham. Some of us bought the giraffe in the Rotary Club auction to give back to the school. We called our business JubyLee Bakes because we named it after JubyLee. Most of us went to QEII School and helped make her.
JubyLee has beautiful eyelashes and has lots of photos on her body of the pupils at QEII. She has a crown on her head and pink glittery feet. This is because the school was opened by the Queen in 1977.
We all love JubyLee and made her our logo for our business. She used to sometimes go to bake sales with us. However she's getting a bit old now with a wonky leg so she is spending her retirement in the Studio of QEII School. We have a picture of her on our aprons and our labels and other merchandise.
