Real Food Wythenshawe team nominated for Manchester ‘Be Proud’ Award!.
Real Food Wythenshawe, the Big Lottery funded project managed by Wythenshawe Community Housing Group to support local residents and community groups to grow, cook and eat their own food, has been short listed for an Award at this year’s Manchester ‘Be Proud’ Awards.
The team has been nominated in the Green Futures category which celebrates people or projects working at local level, leading by example and showing how we can all help build sustainable, green communities for the future.
Since the launch in March 2013, Real Food Wythenshawe, a £1million Lottery funded community food programme, has been going from strength to strength. The project has come about from the successful Real Lives Wythenshawe Campaign which was created to challenge the outdated and negative images of the community of Wythenshawe.
The main aim of this 5 Year Project is to inspire the people of Wythenshawe about the food they eat, with a slogan of ‘Grow it. Cook it. Eat it!” From plant to plate, the campaign, which is lead by Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, demonstrates that no matter what your age, ability or how much time you have to spare, ‘Real Food’ is for everyone.
A wide range of projects includes the launch of a bio-system with The Manchester College to showcase modern indoor growing techniques and demonstrate what sustainable food production can mean in an urban setting; a programme to encourage people to grow their own food; and lots of partnership work with horticultural centre and farm in Wythenshawe Park.
Jacqueline Naraynsingh, Real Food Programme Manager for Wythenshawe Community Housing Group said: “The team are delighted to have been recognised for their work. This is such an interesting project and there is so much enthusiasm for our messages that we really hope that we can spread the word about the value of eating healthily and sustainably. How we grow, cook and eat food is important to us all, and this message is really getting out to the local people of Wythenshawe.”
The Green Futures category will be well represented by Wythenshawe, as the Real Food team has also nominated the Darke family, who live in Northern Moor, and they have been short listed for the same Award!
Jacqueline explains; “The Darke Family are a self sufficient family who grow their own food, make their own soap, brew their own beer and design and create bespoke leather items including sporrans, bags and purses. They are a very kind and generous family, always on hand to help others and a fantastic representation of just what can be done. They really deserve to be recognised for all the brilliant work they have been doing over the years. So Real Food and the Darke family are ‘Proud’ to be flying the flag for Wythenshawe!
The Awards will be held on Friday, 29th November at Manchester Town Hall, so fingers crossed for Wythenshawe!
Anyone wanting to find out more and get involved with the Real Food Wythenshawe campaign should contact Jacqueline Naraynsingh on 0161 946 7554.
