yesterdays observer

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by garinda

Accrington-based Scaitcliffe Community Centre will be dishing up a programme of community activities with their 'Step-2-It' project, today receiving £129,165. Step-2-It will train and recruit community food workers and exercise instructors to deliver after school cooking and gardening clubs, along with workshops that will cover growing and cooking, healthy lifestyles, and exercise. The project aims to celebrate the diversity of food cultures in different ethnic groups, bringing people together from different backgrounds to learn about each other’s dietary habits and traditional dishes.


http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/hi/...regioncode=-nw

Seems to be pretty good idea to me, it also seems to be a lot to deliver for such a moderate sum of money, I suppose it's open to eveyone who will want to partake regardless of persuasion/colour etc. Last year I myself benefitted from a similar grant i.e. Arden Hall/Clarendon st community allotment scheme, run by the Healthy Heart Team, to teach would be gardeners, also allow seasoned gardeners not fit enough to work large plots, to grow for self and the community, healthy food. As Gayle said every penny has to be accounted for by the elected committee, not as Spinner said 'certain individuals'. I think they(Arden Hall) applied for a further one to extend the growing season via a 'Polytunnel', at time of writing I do not know if they got it as I have not been active for 3 months. I think the cooking of the food and the excercise content is a usefull addition to what we have, (maybe a lesson learned), Spinner if you are not happy with who runs the 'show' join in and change it, that's called democracy. Where is the Scaitcliffe Centre? I would also add I live knowhere near Arden Hall/Clarendon St community, and the quotes used are the most explicit, i.e garinda and Gayles.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

If they have the grant on the condition that they will teach gardening skills then they may find themselves having to pay it back if they don't actually do that. The money isn't just handed out and then forgotten about. If that were the cae then anybody could get away with thousands under false pretences.

Just wondering ....how many 'ethnic' folks have allotments (hen-pens) or access to a community garden where these classes can be carried out ?
Also is the climate in Accrington suitable to the growing of crops required for this multi national cusine ?

[WillowTheWhisp]

I have no idea how this particular scheme is going to run Steeljack but as Ianto said in the previous post there are some converted allotments which have been divided into small plots within the allotment, used by the Healthy Heart Team and the plots are more than adequate for growing veg. They may have something like that. Or they may teach container gardening. You don't necessarily have to have your own hen pen to grow a bit of summat.

We may not be able to grow all the ingredients for the English cuisine let alone multi national but we can grow a lot of the basic stuff such as spuds, carrots, onions, peas, beans - which are useful in many meals. The other ingredients, seasonsing, meat or any exotic fruits (bananas?) can be bought locally.

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by steeljack

Just wondering ....how many 'ethnic' folks have allotments (hen-pens) or access to a community garden where these classes can be carried out ?
Also is the climate in Accrington suitable to the growing of crops required for this multi national cusine ?

Not many 'ethinc' have allotments in Accrington (to my knowledge) but in Blackburn there are quite a number of asian/ethnic members, going through the annual show results, they were quite succesfull with their efforts, as most of the older end grew their own produce in their 'mother' countries. As for climate fit for growing of crops, you can grow almost anything in Accrington given a little practice and advice, hence the advantage of having quality advice provided by the grants. I do not think livestock will be included in the scheme, but I am not sure. Just as an aside, some of the best wine I have tasted came from our own grapevines, also chillies,squashes, sweet potato etc can be grown with the help of a 'Polytunnel'. These grants also help renovate land run down by lack of use by previous tennants, who may have had to much land to manage single handed.

[Gayle]

Plus, I'm sure it gets pretty hot in a greenhouse - so not beyond the realms of possibility that someone might learn how to grow exotic fruits in a hothouse.