Mike participated in our short course for senior citizens learning basic cookery skills. Mike, who lives alone never really had the opportunity to learn to cook. Mike was relying on ready meals as his main source of hot meals, but the meals lacked the nutritional balance that he needed. These meals also limited Mike’s opportunity to try something new.  He took the opportunity to learn some new skills with us at a community cooking session based at Cheltenham Baptist Church.  He learnt key life skills including how to safely use the knife and the preparation and cooking of several basic meals that were cheap to make and easy to prepare.

About the course, Mike commented that his favourite dish was the cottage pie because he’d made it himself and “it was delicious”.  He is more confident to try cooking because he’d “learnt to prepare vegetables” so his diet and wellbeing were improved. Mike enjoyed working with the Wiggly team and commented that we are “very good and really helpful”.

These sessions are so much more than cookery, they improve mental health, reduce social isolation, and encourage joining together in a shared learning experience.

With the help of donations, this session has been extended and has grown in participant numbers. The group has now outgrown the church and now cook at a new venue, Scrubditch Care Farm. It’s a wonderful session where the participants can Learn, Cook and Share with others in a calming and inclusive environment.