Published: Thursday, 13th November, 2008 08:00
Let's get Cooking clubs stir up interest
By Annabel Williams
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Michelin-starred: Tamlynn Porter, Jemma Wiseman, Sheryl Lempriere and Daniel Brett fom Prospect School.
TOO many cooks certainly didn’t spoil the broth when schools across Reading and west Berkshire took part in a new healthy eating initiative.
Pupils from primaries and secondaries and their parents were among the first to join Let’s Get Cooking, a national network of healthy cooking clubs backed by a £20 million Big Lottery Fund grant.
The children and adults gathered at a launch event in Whitley, where they started learning to cook and how to organise fun culinary events within their own communities.
Held mainly outside school hours, Let’s Get Cooking clubs give youngsters and non-cooking parents of all ages the skills and confidence to cook nutritious and tasty meals from scratch, with Lottery cash helping to buy cooking equipment and give access to free training and a variety of resources.
The School Food Trust, the organisation behind the project, hopes to see around 1,500 schools across England join the scheme before the end of the year, and more than 5,000 by 2010 with the aim of teaching a million people to cook.
Primary schools taking part included Redlands in Reading, St Michael’s in Tilehurst, St. John’s in New Town, George Palmer in Whitley, Kennet Valley in Calcot, and secondary schools Prospect, in Tilehurst, and Whitley’s John Madejski Academy.
Sophie Wogan, regional co-ordinator for Let’s Get Cooking coordinator, said: “Reading and west Berkshire schools certainly have an appetite for Let’s Get Cooking and we were delighted that so many schools signed up so quickly.
"We’ll give them inspiration and advice to run a club that involves lots of practical cooking and also some fun events involving the whole school, parents and the wider community, such as making smoothies at a sports day or getting parents involved in preparing food at parents’ evening.”
See www.letsgetcooking.org.uk
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