Balsall Heathan # 257 Jul 2006 - St. Paul's Community Trust

STANHOPE HALL YOUTH
& COMMUNITY CENTRE
FEED THEMSELVES – FOR
JUST 10p A MEAL!
Resourceful youngsters at Stanhope Hall rustled up tasty daily
meals to feed up to 20 of them – for a total of around £10 per
week.
Highgate Community Project submitted four of their recipes
to the ‘Brummie Kitchen Project’, which is producing a book
full of the city’s favourite nutritious food.
they cook for each other and I educate them about what’s
healthy and economical.
“We’ve developed our recipes, which are mainly vegetarian
because a lot of the young people do not eat meat. We have
only about £10 a week to spend, so we use a lot of ingredients,
like rice, pasta, tinned vegetables and sauces, that are cheap to
buy. Ideally we’d like to get in fresh vegetables and fruit but we
just don’t have enough money for that.”
One group of members of the youth club – some older boys
on a first aid course – are given £10 a week for food by the
Matthew Boulton College and they have been donating that
to buy in provisions for everyone.
Monica said: “There’s been some rivalry to come up with
dishes – and they all enjoy taking turns in our very small
kitchen to rustle up the food for everyone else. It’s good,
particularly for the lads when they move on to live on their
own, to know they won’t starve and can feed themselves,
provided they buy in the basics such as pasta and rice, at the
beginning of the week. And it’s a lot healthier than living on
take-aways.”
Dr Jacky Chambers, director of public health for Heart of
Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: “It’s wonderful
to find a group of young people enjoying cooking and coming
up with recipes that are fun, multicultural and economical to
prepare. I’m full of admiration for the ingenuity of the young
people and the community worker at Highgate Community
Project.”
The ‘Brummie Kitchen Project’ which is being run by the
Birmingham’s Nutrition and Health Task Force for Children
and Young People, with the support of public health
practitioners across the city.
Community groups, schools, colleges, businesses and
members of the public generally are being invited to come up
with their healthiest, tastiest recipes and food tips.
Highgate Community Project’s entries include one dish –
dumplings with beans – that can feed 10 to 15 young people
for a total of only £1.10.
Their other recipe suggestions are:
· Pasta with tuna, feeding 17 to 20 young people for £2
· Tuna and rice, costing £2.40 to feed 15.
· Penne pasta with cheese, for 17 to 20 people at a cost
of £2.60
A Visit to the Seaside
A call for a trip to the seaside by pupils on the Tindal Primary
School Council led to a fantastic day out for everyone who
took part recently. The trip, which required six coaches for the
309 people who attended, saw pupils and parents enjoying
glorious weather while building sand castles and riding horses
on the stunning beaches at Porthcawl in South Wales.
Organised by Tindal Association for School and Community
(TASC) the day trip was partly paid for through financial help
provided by Balsall Heath Housing Co-op and Focus
Housing. Aziz Coaches provided further help on the day
making the whole journey a pleasure.
Julie Doran from TASC said of the day out, “We had a brilliant
day and nobody wanted to come home”.
Around 20 young people, aged eight to 20, attend Highgate
Community Project’s youth club, at Stanhope Hall Youth &
Community Centre, Ketley Croft, Highgate, every day in the
week. But, because the youth club does not start until 5.30pm
and many of them arrive straight from school, they are often
very hungry.
“Some of them live miles away and can’t go home to eat
before they arrive, so I started preparing food for them,” said
Monica Lee, Birmingham City Council community worker.
“But I couldn’t keep doing that myself, so gradually the young
people started helping me – and now I just supervise while