Food Standards Agency
Friday 3 July 2009
Safer food better business banner
AZ-Directory
What's NewRSS
What is RSS?Listen
Listen to this siteWednesday 11 April 2007
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) today announced that the 'Healthy Eating for Life – A Young Mum's Project', run by GFS Platform, Sandown Bay in the Isle of Wight was one of two winners for the annual Dame Sheila McKechnie Award.
The local food initiative was selected from more than 50 applications from across the UK by a panel of judges that included the Food Standards Agency Chair Deirdre Hutton, news broadcaster Jon Snow and Tim Lang Professor of Food Policy at City University.
Flava Café in Leamington Spa was also announced as a winner. The two runners-up were: Café 98 in Stockton and Food Skills for Life in Bournemouth.
The FSA established the awards in September 2004 to commemorate the contribution that Dame Sheila McKechnie made in helping to set up the Food Standards Agency in 2000. Sheila McKechnie was a lifelong consumer champion, having previously been director of Shelter and later Consumers' Association (now known as Which?).
The Healthy Eating for Life food initiative works with young women between the ages of 14 and 25 who are either pregnant or have young children and very often come from difficult and disadvantaged backgrounds. The project aims to increase access to practical help as well as raise awareness on key food-related areas such as healthy eating, food content and labelling.
The community project will receive £15,000 over a three year period which will help to develop and expand the existing facilities and services as well as fund research into other areas.
'Highly commended' by the panel of judges, the two runners-up to the Sheila McKechnie Awards were:
Café 98, in Stockton, home to The Corner House Youth Project. Co-ordinated by Lesley Makin, the café hosts training courses and a range of other valuable services and facilities for young people.
Food Skills for Life in Bournemouth - co-ordinated by Tony Gibbons, this initiative develops community champions to deliver training to their communities.
Back to topDeirdre Hutton, FSA Chair, said: 'Sheila was an outspoken campaigner who worked incredibly hard to champion the rights of poor consumers. She would have been particularly proud to see her name associated with the 'Healthy Eating for Life - A Young Mums' initiative, as she was passionate about providing food access and food education for all.
'This particular project was selected as a winner for the vital contribution it makes to the lives of those young women in the Isle of Wight, who have limited resources, means and knowledge to ensure that healthy eating and learning important food skills is a priority for them and their children.
'The panel and the Food Standards Agency would like to congratulate Sandown Bay, who run the Healthy Living for Life Project and wish them every success with their project.'
Jon Snow, Channel 4 News presenter, said: 'It's fantastic that once again the Sheila McKechnie Awards has found another outstanding winner. The panel clearly saw the benefits of the Healthy Eating For Life project and the very real issues that it deals with. The project has developed a programme that addresses the needs of young mums and in some way acts as a second family to them. The work being carried has such a positive impact on all the young women that get involved and not only teaches them key food skills but also encourages and inspires them to motivate themselves and their children - something Sheila McKechnie would have been very proud of.'
Karen Payne, from the Healthy Eating for Life Project, said: 'We are thrilled to have won this award which will really make a huge difference to the daily lives of many young women in our local area who often come from backgrounds where they don't have the means or access to the type of resources and education that we offer. The extra funding will help us to continue our work to increase awareness amongst young mums on a range of important food related issues as well as fund research into other areas that address the specific needs of our local community.'
Back to topFor pictures of the award winners, or for further information or interview requests with Karen Payne from the 'Healthy Eating For Life' community initiative, please contact: Ashu Sirdaw-Rajah on Tel: 020 7276 8888.
Back to top
Room 245 Aviation House,
125 Kingsway,
London WC2B 6NH
Telephone: 020 7276 8888
Out of hours duty pager: 07623 978344
Fax: 020 7276 8833
Email:
press.mailbox@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Find out what our other sites have to offer