WCHG’s Real Food Team meets CBeebies Mr Bloom
CBeebies Mr Bloom came to Wythenshawe on Friday 13th February to record a podcast at The Manchester College’s Geodome and to meet with Wythenshawe Community Housing Group’s Real Food Team and pupils from Haveley Hey Primary School.
Mr Bloom, a CBeebies children's television presenter played by Ben Faulks, is a gardener who helps children to get involved and be inspired by nature. He visited Wythenshawe as part of a series of radio shows to being recorded in different habitats around the Greater Manchester area.
Real Food Wythenshawe is a 5 year £1million Big Lottery funded community food campaign to inspire the people of Wythenshawe about the food they eat. From plant to plate, the campaign encourages and supports residents to learn how to grow their own produce and cook healthy, economical meals using local, seasonal produce.
Four young ‘tiddlers’ from Haveley Hey Primary School, showed Mr Bloom around The Manchester College’s Geodome – a ground-breaking project with Wythenshawe Community Housing Group’s Real Food team to create a ‘living classroom’ focussed on sustainable food production and to show that you can grow fruit and vegetables near to your home and all year round.
They learnt about aquaponics, fed the worms with a worm sandwich, and used Geodome grown produce to cook a meal.
Mr Bloom said; “Wow it’s amazing in the Real Food Geodome isn’t it? It’s like an allotment from the future! Thank you for showing me round the Geodome tiddlers.”
Rachel Harding, Food Education and Skills Coordinator from Real Food Wythenshawe said; “This has been a fantastic day and has really brought to life what sustainable food production is all about. The children from Haveley Hey Primary School have had a fantastic day with Mr Bloom and we will continue to work with students of all ages in this brilliant Geodome to help them understand food systems and the importance of using fewer environmental resources in our food production.”
The BBC radio podcasts will be available in March and will also be available on Wythenshawe Community Housing Group’s website.
