A mother and daughter who are studying on the same college cookery course are hoping to use their new skills to launch a business together.

The pair - 23-year-old Dania Dunn-Bukhari and her 63-year-old mum Judith (Dunn) - started a level three patisserie course at Suffolk New College last year.

The keen bakers will be looking to use the professional skills that they gain to set up a food-related business after they graduate this summer.

It had been several decades since Judith had been in education. However, she was surprised at how easy the transition back into study has been and found everyone very welcoming.

She said: "I find the course is fun and everyone is helpful and friendly. I feel very comfortable here. Because of my age I was finding it difficult to find any sort of job. So this was a way of getting the training with the long-term ambition of setting up a business.”

Judith – who used to work for the British Embassy in Saudi Arabia before returning to the UK - feels others who have not been in education for a while should not worry about returning.

She said: “This (doing the course) has given me a new lease of life and I’m enjoying it. To others who read this and who are thinking about changing careers, I’d say don’t hesitate.”

Judith’s daughter Dania studied art and design at the Suffolk New College before gaining a degree in the same field at the University of Plymouth last year.

She said: “I graduated and wanted to be a teacher but I didn’t have doors opening for me because of Covid reasons. Since I was seven years old I’ve always loved baking – so I pursued this course and we both signed up."

Judith, from Kesgrave, said doing the course with her daughter had brought us closer together.

She added: "We hope to do some work together in the future and we thought it would be useful for both us to have the same qualification and understanding of patisserie. If we had a coffee shop, bakery or patisserie, we could have art on the walls created by Dania. We could combine it with lots of other things.”

Mike Mulvihill is the director of the Service Industries Academy at Suffolk New College. He said: “It’s very rare to have two generations of the same family studying on the same course - so this is a lovely story. Judith and Dania are both talented students who have great potential. It’s our pleasure to help them on their journey.”