World Tea Party, SPANA

Before I jump onto my tales of Cuba I have a post that it's important to me to get out there. Roughly this time last year I posted about it and it's ridiculous how quickly it has come around again.

It's time for SPANA's World Tea Party!

There is literally no better excuse out there to get yourself in the kitchen and baking. It's an even better excuse to get trying something new.  

SPANA is a charity focusing on the welfare of working animals, something that I find always becomes more prominent in my mind when I go abroad. In the UK we're lucky enough to have machinery that does the majority of heavy lifting, however elsewhere around the world people are still relying on animals to do the heavy lifting for them. SPANA help them with that. 

By making sure that the owners know how to look after the animals, keeping them well nourished, hydrated and in good physical health, helps to keep the animals happy and healthy.  

The use of animals as manual labour is nothing new, and is inherent in our history. While we were in Cuba (had I mentioned I've been there recently?) we saw no end of horses, cows and donkey's working. Horse and cart is still a legitimate and widely used from of transport in rural Cuba, and cowboys are a huge part of rural culture there too. Seeing a horse wilting in 35°+ while being dragged down the beach for tourists to ride is a sobering sight. Responsible tourism is very much our responsibility as tourists, the welfare of the animal is theirs, and SPANA helps with that.  

It's an important cause to me, so I write about it, and I bake for it. You don't have to write about it but the World Tea Party is a great excuse to get yourself in the kitchen, invite your friends over for a cuppa and cake to raise money or even awareness for such a great cause.  

Last weekend – because that's how the world of blogging works – I baked up a storm for SPANA. Whipping up a Guinness cake which definitely got eaten before the camera could make it out (you can find the recipe here if you want it), alongside these little meringue domes glued together with white chocolate buttercream, a failed delicacy in my house!  

If you fancy getting involved yourself you can download a Fundraising pack here. I'd love to hear if you're hosting a World Tea Party this weekend, and if so, what are you baking?