'Buns of mass production' mystery baker revealed to medical staff with help from Forces News

The identity of the mum of two Royal Marine veterans who has sent home baked cakes and biscuits to hospitals and warzones for more than 20 years has been revealed to staff at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) in Birmingham.

After a quick Google search of the name Louise Bennet – which had been written on the baked goods' packaging – and discovering our article How a mother's 'buns of mass production' have cheered 260,000 troops over 20 years, a member of staff at RCDM contacted Forces News in August asking for help to find the lady who had been sending them treats.

The staff wanted to say thank you for all her bun-baking brilliance over the years but had no idea how to contact the unknown baker.

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Mysterious packages

The search for the answer to the identity of the maker of the buns began when staff and patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham started to question who was sending them packages marked 'Buns of Mass Production' every week for years. 

Colonel Vicky Moorhouse, Commanding Officer of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, spoke with Forces News about the detective work that led to the discovery of Louise's identity, saying: "I noticed that one of the parcels had a postcode on it so I asked one of my team if we could perhaps find out where they'd come from.

"He went away and did a little detective work"

That's when our article was discovered and an email was sent asking to be put in contact with Louise.

Keen to help the staff at RCDM out, we arranged for Louise to visit the hospital so they could say thank you.

For the very first time, the sweet treats were delivered in person, by the baker herself.

Louise received a huge round of applause and a plaque with the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine's coin as a token of thanks for the many hours of baking and thousands of biscuits she had sent them over the years.

One of the lucky recipients of the biscuits, Flight Sergeant Neil Middleton, said: "I’ve seen those biscuits for years and often wondered where they came from and I’ve asked but no one could tell me.

"It’s so nice to finally meet her and say thanks to her properly."  

How the buns came to be

Louise's buns of mass production journey began at the start of the Iraq war, when one of her two Royal Marine sons George was called up to the front line.

As many military mums will appreciate, Louise was beside herself with worry so she did the only thing she could think of that might help – she baked George a fruit cake as the act of baking helped ease her concerns. 

She said: "For a little while you can take your mind off what's happening over there.

"The families worry the entire time – it's just a nightmare to live with.

"That was all I could do – I couldn't do anything else for them really but I could do that."

George was delighted with the cake and shared it around, telling his mum they had been well received and that some guys didn't get anything sent from home. 

So for her next batch, instead of making one big cake, Louise started making individual buns and addressed them to the entire troop.

She still sends them out to Iraq now and has a cupboard full of thank you letters and photographs of the grateful recipients, even an American flag signed by the satisfied soldiers.

At one point she switched from fruit buns to biscuits as they travelled better.

The baking process begins the night before with the washing of boxes and prepping ingredients.

Then the actual baking starts early the next morning, churning out hundreds of baked items from her little kitchen in Worcestershire, finishing by mid-afternoon.

To date, Louise has sent about 36,400 baked delicacies to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine alone.

It is where Louise's son George was treated after being flown home to the UK with Malaria.

She said: "We do actually owe the NHS everything for the survival of our Royal Marine sons and I never forget that.

"There isn't a day that goes by. And I'll get teary in a moment, I'll try not to." 

Although Louise's sons have both now left the Armed Forces, she says she will keep baking for as long as the goodies make a difference to someone's day.