Discovering My Aunt's Quest to Bake the World's Longest Loaf of Bread

At reLOVE, we love hearing the background stories behind some of the photographs we are asked to scan. On her passing, Clive contacted us from Grantham about preserving family photos he had inherited from his late aunt Jacqueline.

Clive was particularly moved by snaps of him with his French-born aunt and grandparents. It was a trip down memory lane as he sorted through boxes of paper photographs taken at the seaside, picking fruit in his grandparent's garden, and making gingerbread at Christmas with his aunt, which he could almost smell once again baking in the oven.

Clive told us...

My aunt had always been a bit of a mad scientist. She was the kind of person who would try anything once, even if it meant risking her kitchen in the process. I remember her telling me she was planning to bake the world's longest loaf of bread, and I wasn't a bit surprised.

Clive spent many school holidays with his aunt in France and fondly remembers her as a force of nature. Jacqueline not only attempted to break the Guinness world record for the longest loaf of bread, but she managed to persuade most of her local town residents to take part in the attempt, which included the staff from three local bakeries who helped to prepare and bake the monster-sized baguette.

Unfortunately, her attempt fell very short of the Guinness world record, which was 2,132 feet and 2 inches, set in Mexico in 1985. But when we measured the baguette, it was even longer than we expected!

Even though her attempt failed, Clive told us that his aunt was thrilled with the results and hoped she inspired other people to follow their dreams, no matter how crazy they may seem.

“I was so proud of my aunt for her accomplishment. She showed that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.”

The baguette was cut into slices and sold to local residents and spectators. The money raised from the sales was donated to the local hospice, which was where Jacqueline spent her final days.

Clive asked us to convert his aunt's photo albums to digital so he could keep a lasting memory of this fantastic woman. He chose our Premium photo scanning service as it made it easy for him to fill the box we sent him with the photos he wanted scanned.

He was very pleased with our service and said he made a slideshow screensaver of the photos and can now look back at images of his deeply loved family members and see them smiling back at him.