When I was running my first Crowdfunding project I tried to write as many project updates as I could when I came home from school so that people knew what I was doing and that I was working hard.
Mum says that the crowdfunding is just the start of my journey and she is right, because I had to get the book finished, printed, and then sold so that I can make as much money as possible for the Wallace & Gromit's Children's Charity. Since then I have also run a pop-up Lemon Cafe in Summer 2015 to raise funds for WaterAid and I am now working on a second Crowdfunding project to help me get my next recipe book published. It has an international flavour with a food passport! All money from sales of the book will go to my chosen charity Action Against Hunger.
I hope you enjoy reading what I write. Thank you.
2016
4th August 2016
I'm really excited to be working on my next crowdfunding project over the school summer holidays. I need to raise money to get my next recipe book printed. It will be quite different to the last one as this one will have recipes from children across the world, and will also include a food passport that children can use to put stickers in to show they have tasted the food from the differet countries.
There is a lot of things to do to get this project launched and I hope to record my crowdfunding video next week. I hope to launch the project on Crowdfunder at the end of August 2016 and will then have just four weeks to raise the money I need!
I have decided that money from sales of this book should go to the charity Action Against Hunger. I was so shocked to learn how many children are starving and suffering from malnutition across the world and it just doesn't seem right. The charity are doing important work to help make things better and I want to help them make a difference.
2015
22nd August 2015
Breaking News: The grand total from the Lemon Cafe including gift aid and donations online is £500! Every penny of that is going to WaterAid. I have also been made WaterAid's star supporter of the week! There are still more donations to come!
18th July 2015
On the 17th August 2015 I will be running a Lemon cafe to raise funds for WaterAid. This is my summer project. I will be making: Homemade lemonade, lemon cakes and serving ice creams as the local ice cream company are helping me. I am really looking forward to it and I hope lots of people come. I love Lemons!
2014
22nd November 2014
Today I have been getting everything ready for my new SuperCandylicious business which I am launching at my school Christmas market next week. It's been great fun putting all the sweet bags together and the business cards look brilliant! I have had to do lots of sums to work out how much to charge for everything, and I have worked out how to present my stall next week. I'm really looking forward to it. Dylan :-)
3rd November 2014
After running the sweet shop and chocolate fountain at the wedding (see 7th October) I have decided I'd like to start up a new business. I don't think many people really want to buy a chocolate fountain just for one thing like a birthday party, so I am going to hire mine out. I have a Christmas Market coming in a few weeks and will be running the chocolate fountain there so I can tell everyone it can be hired for a fee, and I will also be selling candy floss and bags of sweets. It's taken a lot of working out how much to charge for things but I have done it with some help from Mum and now I know what I have to sell to make a profit. My business is called 'SuperCandylicious' and I have some business cards and stickers coming very soon - I'm very excited about that! Dylan :-)
7th October 2014
I went to a wedding a few weeks ago and I ran a sweet shop and also the chocolate fountain in the evening. It was great fun and I have decided that people don't always want to buy their own chocolate fountain for parties so if I had one I could hire it out. Mum has just bought me one - it's brilliant, so I am just working out how much to charge for hiring it out. I was thinking I could also hire myself out too to run it if they liked but need to think how much I would charge for that. I am going to let my friends know at school and put something on the front page of my web site. Dylan :-)
29th August 2014 - DJA meets PTG!
This week I met Phil Taylor-Guck (PTG) and he really liked my Cracking Good Recipes book. He bought the last one so that means I can now sort the money for the charity - £1000!!! PTG had a look at my web site too and I told him about my plans for my next book. He was really interested. He is a business man who helps other people and he wears flip flops in the office. He said he wanted to help me with my next book so I said yes please. I'm very excited about this and will say more about this very soon. Dylan :-)
15th May 2014
I haven't written anything here for a bit but I have still been busy cooking and selling the rest of my books.
Tomorrow is exciting because it is Food Revolution Day. At my Beavers group we will be tasting lots of different foods from around the world, so I am very excited about that. Dylan :-)
6th April 2014
Yesterday I went to a Spring Fair to sell my recipe books. I set up my stall at 9am and it was great. I ran a prize draw because Marks & Spencer gave me a gift token, and it was brilliant to ring people up after to let them know the prize they had won. I only have 12 recipe books left now and really want to sell them all by Easter so I can get the big cheque to the charity. Please can you help me? Thank you. Dylan :-)
1st April 2014
Yesterday I recorded a video for Global Crowdfunding Day. You can watch it on my Crowdfunding page. Thank you. Dylan :-)
25th March 2014
I only have about 30 recipe books left to sell so I'm going to try to sell them at an Easter market next month. I'm going to run a prize draw too as my friend at Marks and Spencer Haverfordwest has given me a gift voucher as a prize. If you can help me sell these last books then I will reach the £1000 I want to raise for the charity. Thank you. Dylan :-)
24th March 2014
Last week I went to the Education Show at Birmingham NEC. It was quite a long journey but I had a brilliant time meeting lots of people.
I went to talk to some people who were exhibiting to talk to them about my recipe book. I met the Cracking Ideas people who like children to create new things. They took a photograph of me with my book.
I also met 'Food - A fact of life', First News, Warner Bros, and Focus on Food. I am hoping that my school will be able to have a cooking bus come and visit and I might be able to help out with one of the cooking lessons. Dylan :-)
3rd February 2014
Last week I went to London and saw Doug Richard again. I talked to him about my plans for Cracking Good Recipes Part 2 and I am now working on that!
On 5th April it is Global Crowdfunding Day so I have added with Mum's help a little ribbon to the home page of my site. I am really excited about this and have lots of ideas about things I can do as Young Ambassador. Dylan :-)
26th January 2014
I came home from school and mum said that Radio Pembrokeshire want to interview me on the radio tomorrow morning before I go to school. I was in the Western Telegraph last week and have made some more book sales from that which is great. I need to get up earlier tomorrow so I am ready for the interview so mum says I have to go to bed earlier too which isn't so good, but I don't mind too much because I might sell some more books. Dylan :-)
19th January 2014
Today I did a baking master class as a prize from a Merry Berry Bake Off competition at Christmas time. I had great fun doing it and as well as making the marvellous muffins I gave some top tips too. The muffins were really tasty! Dylan :-)
8th January 2014
This week I went back to school and we are learning about chinese new year.
I have got 60 more books to sell and I have got £600 already from books I have sold.
My target is £1000 so I would really like to hit that target and what I always say for people who are learning to cook is "If you buy this book you'll learn to cook". Dylan :-)
2013
18th December 2013
This week I was asked to write about what I think about running a business for Small Business Heroes. It was nice to be asked and you can read what I said on the media page. I don't think I will sell any more recipe books before Christmas but I have sold lots already and will keep selling them next year until they are all gone and then I can give a big cheque to the charity.
13th December
Last weekend I went to a Christmas market in St Dogmaels. It was brilliant. It was an outside market and I set up my stall before it opened at 11am and stayed there until 5pm. It was a long day but I loved doing the stall and sold lots of recipe books.
I still have quite a few books left to sell so hoping people will buy them as Christmas gifts but I can keep selling them in the new year too until they are all sold then the money can go to the charity. Dylan :-)
27th November
I had a great time at the school Christmas market yesterday night. It was really busy and I really liked setting my table up. The chocolates were very popular too.
I sold quite a few books but I still have lots more to sell so I can give the money to the charity so mum and I are thinking of lots of ways to let people know about it.
Dylan :-)
25th November
Just before I went to London all my recipe books came from Cauliflower books. The boxes are very heavy. You can now buy them on this web site. I had my first order for 2 books when I came home from school today which is brilliant. I am now getting all the rewards ready to be sent out this week, so if you pledged money on my Crowdfunder web page you will have a nice surprise coming in the post later this week! Dylan :-)
24th November
I have had a brilliant few days. On Friday I went to London. My mum was working at the U+ project where lots of school children were. They were there to learn about how to run a business and mum spoke to them about crowdfunding. I met Doug Richard. He was on Dragons' Den. He didn't seem much like a dragon to me and he lifted me up really high in the air. I did a pitch to him, Michael Jacobsen, Duncan Nichols, and Ric Salmon to tell them all about what I have done so far with my recipe book and what I would like to do next.
I don't know whether I will win the £500 but it was a brilliant thing to do. Dylan :-)
16th November
I had a brilliant day yesterday. I came home from school and mum told me I had an email from Nigel Slater. I was so excited. I love looking in the papers at the weekend to see what recipes Nigel has in there and we have loads of his books in our kitchen too.
Yesterday was also brilliant because I stayed up very late. I went to the Radio Pembrokeshire Young Achievers Awards at Folly Farm because I won Young Fundraiser of the Year. There are some more photographs on the awards page.
I couldn't believe it and I had a big glass trophy as well as a brilliant goodie bag with lots of things like tickets to Folly Farm, tickets to see the Scarletts, and fudge. After I had my award I did a little radio interview and had my photograph taken too.
It was a very late night but brilliant. I had to get up early today though because I was bag packing in Morrisons for Beavers so I am a bit tired now. Dylan :-)
13th November
My sample book came in the post today. It looks brilliant. I have spotted a few things like spelling mistakes so we are sorting that and then it can go to print. We're going to have 150 copies printed so I hope I can sell them all. Dylan :-)
9th November
Today was really busy. I was asked to be a judge at a Merry Berry Bake Off for children. It was really busy and there were lots and lots of different cakes. There were two ladies judging as well and I really enjoyed looking at all the cakes. I was looking at things like texture, flavour, and presentation. I donated a prize of a baking master class with me so am waiting to see who I am going to be helping. That should be fun! Dylan :-)
5th November
Yesterday I went to Radio Pembrokeshire to talk about my trip to London and my recipe book. I made some blueberry and vanilla muffins and took them with me to give to the people there. It was great fun. I got to look at all the equipment they use in the studio and in one of the rooms all the machines were stacked up high to the ceiling and that is how much equipment is needed for people to be able to hear the radio!
I really enjoyed the interview and Toby was great. Ollie was really nice too - he was the producer. This is a picture of me with Toby which Ollie took. I wore what mum calls my 'chef whites'. She said I didn't need to wear it because it was the radio and nooone could see me but I wanted to and glad I did because I had my photo taken. Dylan :-)
3rd November
I have had an amazing time in London. I went to the big conference and I went on to the stage and Barry asked me some questions about my Cracking Good Recipes Crowdfunding project. Then he gave me a certificate which said it was a prestigious award of being the first young ambassador for crowdfunding in the UK. It was brilliant. Lots of people asked me things like how much I raised and said well done to me.
After the conference I went to the Science Museum. I am going to take my certificate in to school when we go back this week. Dylan :-)
29th October
I have finished making all my recipes now and have been deciding what to say in the introduction of the book. I also have 43 thank you cards to write to people who have pledged money so mum says I had better start writing them now or I will still be writing them at Christmas! My interview at Radio Pembrokeshire isn't happening tomorrow but they have said they will speak to me very soon, so I will let you know when that it. Dylan :-)
25th October
It was the last day of term at school today and I have lots to do to get my recipe book ready to sell. I'm really looking forward to finishing it. I have two more recipes to make and take photographs of so that will be fun. Dylan :-)
20th October, posted on Crowdfunder
Thank you so much for all the money you have given to help me get my book printed. I was so excited to come home from school and see how much money I had got, it is amazing!
I am now working hard to get the recipe book finished so I can get it printed and sold for the charity in time for their BIG bake. If you like baking like I do, you can visit their BIG bake page and do something for fun to help them too http://www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org/big-bake/
Mum is helping me with the web site so I will be writing my updates on how I am getting on with everything over there and you will be able to buy a copy of the Cracking Good Recipes book there too. www.crackinggoodrecipes.org.uk Thank you. Dylan :-)
