Feeding Stockport is now up and running and so we though we'd ask our Feeding Stockport Co-ordinator, Jemma to tell us what has been going on over the last three months:
I am now in my third month, how time has flown by. Every day I meet someone new and hear great things which are going on in and around Stockport. The support has been fantastic with many people wanting to see how their work can fit with Feeding Stockport and how we can work together to make our food system more sustainable, helping our communities in the process.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been supporting Stockport’s Food Inquiry in the central neighbourhood looking into the barriers to people eating healthier and exploring how this works closely with sustainability through lifestyles. The residents have worked hard over the last 3 months looking at a variety of issues and are now exploring solutions and recommendations which will impact commissioning and empower this residents to make a positive impact on where they live. I have been co-facilitating sessions and study visits. I am looking forward to the launch of their recommendations next month.
Last week I met with 17 community groups at an event put together by Sustainable Living in the Heatons (SLH) we talked about working together, resources we had, our mutual aims and how we could work to improve the links between all parts of the Heatons. Electricity Northwest discussed their Power Saver Challenge which we will be a key partner on going forward looking at ways which we can influence diets to become more sustainable at the same time utilising less energy in the home and getting people out into their communities. I chatted to Heatons Muslims Community Trust about cooking skills for teens and how we could work together on sustainable food, Anchorpoint about their work on the Re-dish programme and Heaton Norris Community Centre about growing their own on neighbouring land and support which could come from SLH not to mention several other lovely people. We need more of these cross sector community meetings, we are grateful for the funding provided by Electricity Northwest to make this happen in the Heatons and we are looking like doing something similar in other areas within Stockport borough.
I also had the opportunity to take a tour around Debdale Eco-centre with Helen which was really interesting. Helen has a great facility there on the border of Stockport and Tameside and I would encourage people to visit the site and buy some great organic herbs or better still get involved. We will be exploring joint projects in the future and making use of this fantastic facility on our doorstep.
There has been a lot in the news recently about Food Banks and I had the opportunity to meet with Nigel from Stockport Food Banks and also Jonathan from the Wellspring who provide valuable services for the homeless and disadvantaged people. We are looking at ways which we can share expertise to support other community groups and organisations providing similar services in the borough utilising food surplus and ensuring the food we offer meets the needs of the end user. Some of the things we talked about is about purchasing guides for donations highlighting foods with better nutritional contents and are more sustainable. We also discussed a mentorship scheme passing on expertise on running community kitchens and minimising food waste.
I have also been meeting with various partner organisation and colleagues within the council, NHS, businesses and support services to try to make things happen in line with our programme priorities for this year.
There are three main prongs to sustainable food which we keep at the heart of our discussions; these are economic, environment and health. These fit really nicely as cornerstones for our partnership members. I am currently in the process of forming the partnership and I hope to have this completed along with the website in the next couple of weeks. Also, on the horizon is a food business network which we will use as a spring board to help up and coming enterprises flourish in Stockport. More on this in the coming weeks.
We have had our first get together with the other Sustainable Food Cities and they (Bournemouth, Newcastle, Liverpool, Cardiff and Belfast) have great officers in post. We are all quite different with our skills and knowledge so I am looking forward to seeing how they develop in their roles and how we can best learn from each other. We will be ‘Introducing Feeding Stockport’ on the 27th June at 6pm at Blackshaw’s in Stockport’s historic marketplace. There will be information about Feeding Stockport, partners and community groups working on sustainable food and in the marketplace the fantastic Foodie Friday monthly food festival will be happening with a diverse specialist food and drink offering. Registration to attend the event will open in June or pop down to the food festival and see what it is all about.
Everyday is different which is a challenge but incredibly enjoyable. Sustainable food will not happen overnight but the future is promising.