Taking Action News
Latest News:
Stop More Takeaways Petition launch
Participants from the Talking Food: Taking Action (TF: TA) food project have launched a petition to campaign against more takeaways opening in areas where there are already too many.
The campaigners, from all over the North West, have joined together to call for local authorities to change their planning rules to allow councils to refuse applications for new takeaways on health grounds.
Innovative councils such as St Helen's, Barking and Dagenham and, Waltham Forest are leading the way nationally by insisting on a health consideration when applications for new takeaways are made.
The petition will allow everyone to show their support for this groundbreaking approach to tackle the fundamental problems of childhood obesity and access to healthy food in our towns and cities.
The petition can be found here http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-more-takeaways-and-protect-our-children-s-health.html - please pass on this link to help our TF: TA campaigners gather more signatures.
Westminster Food Action at British Heart Foundation Roadshow
Members of Westminster Food Action joined the many stalls outside Ellesmere Port town hall for the British Heart Foundation's ‘Heart Health Roadshow' in August. They had a fun day of recruiting new members and filling up their ‘Monday Munchies' cooking classes, which are now fully booked until October!
They had plenty of interest during the day - including from the Our Life team who were staffing a stall on the opposite side of the square.
With branded aprons and polo-shirts and lots of interesting literature on what they do the group stood out from the crowd.
Partington residents 'PLOT' community allotment
Residents from the TF:TA Partington Inquiry in Greater Manchester continue to meet and were out and about in August to see the work of the PLOT (Planting and Living in Old Trafford) community allotment in Old Trafford. The community allotment is within Seymour Grove Allotments, and is made up by several individual plots. Members of the local community, schools and people from around Trafford use the PLOT community allotments.
The participants met with Jackie Wilson from PLOT and heard how the community allotment system works. They have now taken back what they have learned to their planned community allotment in Partington.
The people of Westminster fill their boots!
In order to recruit more members and to encourage people to grow their own food, Westminster Food Action recently attended an event called 'Fill Your Boots'.
They had a stall in Westminster and encouraged people to bring along old wellies and plant them up with fruit and vegetable plants or seeds. The event showed that it is possible to grow in small spaces and that it can be fun!
An article on the day's planting activities was published in the Ellesmere Port Pioneer and can be seen here.
Westminster Food Action secures funding for local initiatives
Westminster Food Action formed after the Merseyside and Cheshire Inquiry in Ellesmere Port. As a result of the Inquiry recommendations, the group are in the process of setting up community projects in the Westminster area. They have set up cooking classes called 'Monday Munchies' at the Westminster Community Centre where local residents can learn to cook healthy food.
The group have recently received £500 from the NHS Western Cheshire's Chairman's discretionary fund which has helped to provide the cooking equipment needed to run 'Monday Munchies'. Westminster Food Action are also hoping to set up a community food co-op and start growing food at local allotments. They have received £5000 funding from Our Place to promote the work of the group and to support the piloting of new initiatives. (Our Place is the partnership between Cheshire West and Chester Council and its Local Strategic Partners whose sole aim is to listen to the residents of Ellesmere Port to improve services and make a difference in our neighbourhoods). More on the funding can be seen here.
Research trip for Westminster Food Action
Westminster Food Action visited 'U R What U Eat' scheme at the Liverpool fruit & vegetable market at Edge Lane on 8 July. They joined the 'Shoots' fruit and vegetable co-op from St Helens on a tour around the fruit market site. This was followed by lunch and a discussion at the other site in Liverpool - an old school at Eldon Place, Liverpool now used for packing and bagging.
One of the people who showed them round was Jimmy Dunne. Jimmy was a participant of the Food Insiders' Inquiry, so it's fantastic to see that the different local Inquiries can support each other.
For more information about 'U R What U Eat' visit www.urwhatueatcic.com or call 0151 345 9404.
Show your support for school cooking lessons
Zac Goldsmith MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament, calling for cooking lessons to be retained in every secondary school.
An EDM is a kind of Parliamentary petition that MPs can sign to show their support for an issue, and send a message to the Government that a particular cause is important.
Here at Our Life we are supporting this EDM by asking people to contact their MP and urge them to sign the EDM to protect these valuable healthy cooking lessons.
Take Action here.
Ellesmere Port Inquiry Residents form Westminster Food Action
In 2010, 20 Westminster residents came together to investigate food issues and set out their priorities for gaining better access to healthy food as part of the Our Life Talking Food Taking Action initiative.
Following the residents own inquiry into the food system, those attending worked together to prioritise the barriers they face around food. They then heard from experts on the subjects they had prioritised to learn why they exist. Using that knowledge, they agreed local and national changes they'd like to see and developed a series of actions they were keen to take forward locally.
Top of their list was to try and develop a local food co-op on Westminster selling healthy local grown produce. The Westminster residents have since continued to meet on a regular basis and have formed their own Westminster Food Action group. With help from local agencies, NHS Western Cheshire, Cheshire West & Chester Council and Heart of Cheshire, the residents are assessing local demand for a food co-op and investigating premises. Another idea that gained support was local cookery classes with residents themselves being trained and certified in food hygiene. Residents are also investigating if the local cookery classes and the food co-op could be supplied from a local allotment. See the report in the Ellesmere Port Pioneer.
