It has been a big year so far for Katie Donnelly from Roby – a baby daughter, a redundancy… and winning £2,000 to realise her dream of starting a cake-making business. Tony McDonough reports

Katie Donnelly is realising her ambition of starting her own cake-making business after winning £2,000 in a competition designed to turn their dreams into reality.

In January this year Katie, from Roby, took maternity leave to have her daughter Alice – but in March the charity support worker was made redundant.

For a number of years she has created countless birthday, wedding and christening cakes for family and friends.

So she decided to turn her hobby into a business.

Now she has been revealed as the first winner of the Freedom Finance Do What You Love competition.

The company has offered £2,000 to six people and all they had to do for chance to win was share how the cash would help them to fulfil a dream.

Katie will now use her winnings to purchase all the equipment needed to start her business which she has called Little Miss Alice Cakes, after her seven-month-old daughter.

She said: “I originally entered the competition on a whim and never expected anything from it.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got the call to tell me I had won on my birthday – it was the perfect surprise.

“I wanted to use my redundancy as an opportunity to start something new, and this money will allow me to do just that.

“I already have a few orders in the diary from people who have seen my cakes on Instagram, and now I can kick start Little Miss Alice cakes and make it a great success.” 

Brian Brodie, chief executive of Freedom Finance, said: “We launched Do What You Love to help people achieve their dreams, so it’s fantastic to hear how we will be helping Katie to turn her passion into a business.

“There are still five more chances to win, so whether it’s a dream holiday, a fairy-tale wedding or a new set of wheels, let us know how we can help you to do what you love for your chance to win.”

The #DoWhatYouLove competition will run until June 2018 and is open to anyone who submits the simple online. Click here to find out more.