Chartwells workshops reach thousands

As part of its ongoing support for the government’s Holiday Activities and Food programme, this summer Chartwells delivered 64 interactive and educational workshops, reaching 1,429 people across the country.

The purpose of the sessions was to provide primary school pupils and their families with information about how to cook affordable, nutritious food in the holidays and to highlight the importance of eating healthily.

Delivered as part of Chartwells’ Beyond the Chartwells Kitchen programme, alongside partners such as Feeding Britain, Make Lunch Club and Kitchen Social, a range of interactive cooking activities were organised across 14 boroughs including Greenwich, Durham, Liverpool, Barnsley and Anglesey.

In Liverpool and led by Chartwells nutritionist Georgi Avery, children were able to make fruit kebabs with a yoghurt dipping sauce. Using knives to cut up watermelon, strawberries, and pears, they were able to learn valuable chopping skills and hear about the importance of healthy and nutritional snacks. 

"We understand that the school holidays often add further pressure on families, so ensuring they have resources available to support their physical and mental wellbeing is vital," says Avery. "With the support of our industry partners, we’re thrilled we’ve been able to deliver fun, experiential learning activities to so many people across the country, while educating them on the importance of eating healthy and nutritious meals. Working closely with local communities and schools, our aim is to deliver more of these workshops all year-round, as we continue in our mission to reach more and more young people both during and outside of term time."

A range of demos

Several local communities across the UK were also able to enjoy a range of cooking demonstrations. Families in Greenwich learned how to make a variety of meals, based on one ingredient – tomato sauce. 

Since last summer, Chartwells has reached 4,405 children and adults out of term-time through their workshops and has plans to extend its reach during term time as well as during school holidays, in order to provide more support for families and parents in the communities they work in.

"Working with Chartwells to organise a workshop was fantastic and it was great to see so many families attend and engage," says Gary See, chief operating officer of New Hutte Neighbourhood Centre. "Having Chartwells chefs show families how they can use ingredients from the social supermarket in creative ways to make nutritious and tasty dishes at home has been a great help."

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