The Food for Life Partnership (which has been active in Shropshire schools alongside Shropshire Master Composter volunteers) has been awarded the prestigious BBC Radio 4 Derek Cooper Award. The award recognises "unsung heroes, whose work has increased our access to, and knowledge and appreciation of, good food".
Award ceremony host Sheila Dillon, presenter of The Food Programme, has described the Food for Life Partnership as "the most important food project in Europe”. She commented: "For years, for decades, we've been looking for this golden way of changing attitudes to food. The Food for Life Partnership has changed things. You've seen the evidence, it's remarkable. It seems to me that if we lost what the Food for Life Partnership has achieved it would not only be a disaster for the schools and the children, it would be a disaster for the entire British society".
Emma Noble, co-director of the Food for Life Partnership, collected the award saying:
“I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the Food for Life Partnership and the 4,200 schools and communities across England who are working hard to transform their food culture. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate impact the Food for Life Partnership is having. We know that children are eating more fruit and veg as a result; that the programme helps ‘close the gap’ in health and academic attainment between disadvantaged children and their peers; schools show a significant increase in free school meal uptake which is crucial in encouraging healthy eating habits; and twice as many primary schools received an Outstanding Ofsted rating after working with the Food for Life Partnership.”
A day service for adults with learning disabilities has won a prestigious national award for their community recycling activities. Shropshire Council’s Oak Farm, won The Community Recycling Champion, at the prestigious national 2011 Chartered Institute of Waste Management Awards for Environmental Excellence.
The group were presented with a trophy by TV celebrity Alistair McGowan, who praised the waste sector for the work it does in reducing society’s environmental impact and raising awareness.
Oak Farm in Ditton Priors is a busy farm run by people with learning disabilities. Everyone is involved in looking after animals, and growing and selling home grown produce. The farm champions local recycling by enthusiastically encouraging villagers to compost at home or via their community composting scheme, and looks after the village’s recycling banks.
Councillor Steve Charmley, Cabinet member covering disability, said:
“This is brilliant news for Oak Farm who have demonstrated a very innovative and sustainable way of supporting their local community in disposing their recyclable waste. I am so glad Oak Farm have won this prestigious award and congratulate everyone for their hard work.”
