It’s the start of a New Year and after a very busy December we’ve been taking some time off over the festive period to relax, plan and reflect on the year that has just gone. The world seems a worrying and incomprehensible pace at the moment but over the past year we’ve found so much joy and love in small acts of kindness, cooking and sharing food with some amazing people. Here are some of our highlights. We
Ran 26 Community Cook Ups for groups in four venues across Southmead, cooking together over 1700 meals to take away and sitting down for a shared lunch. A huge thank you to Feeding Bristol and Bristol Local Food Fund for enabling these to happen
Delivered two 10 week cooking courses in association with The Friends of Hannah More for parents/carers at Hannah More primary school in central Bristol. Several parents had recently arrived in the UK as refugees and the courses provided them with a safe space, an opportunity to cook home from their cultures, meet other parents and improve their English
Partnered again with the charity Aid Box Community to hold four cooking sessions and a shared lunch for over 30 women at each session of their women’s group. Some of these women may lack access to cooking facilities and the sessions provide them with an opportunity to cook their own food
Worked with the Carers Support Bristol and South Gloucestershire to deliver a half-day cooking workshop and provide a shared lunch for the amazing carers they support. In a caring role it may be difficult to find time to cook nutritional meals and the workshop aimed to give participants some top tips for speedy tasty meals.
Ran four workshops for Cerebral Palsy Plus for children and adults attending their sessions. The workshops aimed to teach core cooking skills and inspire confidence in participants.
Led one and two days workshops for over 200 pupils in five schools
In association with the Quarry Chapel in Dursley and the ceramicist Karen Hilliard ran a 10 week course for young people struggling with attending school and their families. The course was designed to teach essential life skills and build self-esteem.
Cooked over 2,300 meals for children and young people attending holiday sessions at Southmead Adventure playground, ensuring that they have access to a hot meal in the holidays.
Delivered one and two day workshops to over 200 children in five schools. Topics included ‘Where does our food come from’ and ‘Food from Africa’
Worked with over 200 children and young people in other sessions including with Everyfamily in Brentry, Bristol University and workshops in Southmead
Worked again with Square Food Foundation, Co-exist Community Kitchen, The Children’s Kitchen, Adrian Kirikmaa, Josh Eggleton and 91 Ways to deliver more Food Leaders courses to aspiring community cooks and food educators in Bristol.
Marked 10 years of Travelling Kitchen as a Community Interest Company with a celebration in October attended by partners, supporters and participants.
We’re looking forward to working with some old partners and friends in 2016 and some new. Thank you to all our partners, participants and supporters, we are so lucky to work with you all.