June 2022

Work is underway to add an accredited training kitchen to our community café.

Funding from FareShare UK is allowing us to add a new offering to our work, delivering cookery classes and enhancing a community space.

The training kitchen will deliver Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food scheme to our programme participants and members of the community.

These cookery classes will allow participants to develop practical skills, learning about nutrition, new cuisines and budgeting for the weekly shop, as well as how to store, handle and cook a wide variety of foods. It’s hoped the skills participants gain will support people coping with the ongoing cost of living crisis, helping people to plan meals and manage their budget.

We are also working to upgrade our existing café area, creating an attractive area for local groups to use.

Charity chief executive Alasdair Jackson said: “The Training Kitchen adds another dimension to our offering, allowing us to give people new or improved skills and the ability to better provide for themselves and their families by cooking and enjoying nutritious, varied and affordable meals.
“We’re also looking forward to using this project to welcome other local groups and businesses into our facilities to work together. We’ve had some great success stories from working with groups like Red Rose Recovery and Church On The Street in recent weeks, signposting people in need to one another’s services.”

The kitchen will work directly with our Food Redistribution Centre – part of the national FareShare network – using surplus food in the classes, as it is in the community café to reduce food waste. The Centre takes surplus stock from the food retail network to redistribute to CFMs (charities and community groups across Lancashire and Cumbria) supporting people experiencing disadvantage.

The £90,000 funding from FareShare UK will cover kitchen equipment, to improve the opportunities available for CFMs to make best use of the surplus food they receive. A further £90,000 from our own funds will cover a full-time chef trainer to deliver training sessions.

The café is already popular as an affordable and accessible venue used by the local community. New seating and signage has already been added to the café as part of the redevelopment, with the space available for local groups and businesses to use.

The kitchen is due to open on July 11.

To find out more about training opportunities or using our community space, contact: [email protected]