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Best friends of 90 years hope to win Christmas cake competition with family recipe

Best friends from a Hull care home are hoping to win a widespread Christmas cake competition with a special family recipe.

Edith Jensen and Ruth Dent, who are both 90 years old, live at Raleigh Court Hull, a specialist care home for older people. The ladies, who have been friends since they were born, came together to bake Edith’s family Rich Christmas cake, which she has baked every Christmas since 1970.

Edith and Ruth grew up in Hull, attending Chapman Street School together and later going on to live in linked houses between Withernsea Street and Dalton Street where they lived with their husbands and raised their families.

The competition was launched by Hica Group, a not-for-profit organisation which operates 17 care homes for older people and people with learning difficulties across Hull and East Riding. All residents were invited to take part, resulting in dozens of entries.

Raleigh Court manager Katie Daysley said: “Edith and Ruth truly are best friends and family, they are more like sisters because they grew up together and spent their adult lives raising their young families together. Ruth’s family live in South Africa so Edith’s family spend a lot of time with Ruth too.

“Ruth was living here when Edith arrived and they were delighted to see each other. They have been inseparable ever since.

“It’s great that they can enter the Christmas cake competition with a family recipe which has been used at this time every year for the past 50 years. Edith’s family were hands on and helped with the baking, which is something we encourage as much as possible.

“They were both chatting away whilst making the cake, sharing memories and stories together. I think baking the cake encouraged some happy memories of Christmas time for them both. Activities like this often have a positive effect on our residents.”

The winners of the Hica Group companywide Christmas Cake competition will be announced following judging on Friday December 15 at the organisations head office Anchor Court, Hull.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by The Hica Group .