The idea for Ready Steady Cook arose out of participating in the Growing Young programme.
This was an ‘experiment’ and a new way of connecting with families.
We hired the village hall -with thanks to Seeds for Growth -for six weeks.
The classes were run by ourselves -Lisa Hobson and Fiona Corsar -from after the school holiday in October as it is a dark time of year and Christmas is still a long way off.
After publicising the event we signed up 13 children – which were as many as we felt able to cope with. The parents paid a weekly amount to cover the cost of the ingredients which we bought.
We made blueberry and chocolate chip muffins, scone based pizza, truffles, pastry slices, Krispies and decorated Christmas biscuits. The children were delighted with what they made and took their cooking home each time. Each week, they had a snack and also, played a game. We hired the hall for a seventh week and held a Christmas party. We handed the children a recipe book with the recipes for six weeks.
The parents were highly delighted with the venture. Contacts became friends.
We would like to follow up with a weekly or fortnightly games evening for the children as they thoroughly enjoyed the hour and gelled as a group.