Local housing providers are being urged to take inspiration from an ‘oven-ready’ initiative in Chadderton that’s boosting people’s job prospects, self-confidence, and cooking skills.
This follows the Mayor of Oldham’s ‘mind-blowing’ visit to Anna’s Community Cafe, a place where people often written off by society are being given the opportunity to gain practical skills and experience in a real-life working kitchen and restaurant that serves the local community.
The multi-purpose project, which is located at St Herbert’s Court retirement living scheme, predominantly supports volunteers recovering from addiction alongside people with learning disabilities and the unemployed.
During their time here, volunteers not only learn how to freshly prepare, cook and serve healthy and affordable meals, they gain a variety of other useful skills including things like how to use a barista machine.
They also obtain valuable experience in stock management and customer service, with the project paying for volunteers to obtain food hygiene certificates and safeguarding training too, to ensure they’re ready for full-time work in hospitality.
But their efforts in the kitchen serve a much wider purpose as well.
This is thanks to a partnership formed between retirement living and extra care provider Housing 21 and local social enterprise organisation Wellbeing Improvement Fitness Initiative & Catering Service North West, who run Anna’s Community Cafe and the retirement living scheme’s restaurant on behalf of the housing association.
As a result, all food cooked in the kitchen feeds the residents and visitors of St Herbert’s Court, with the restaurant providing people with a space where they can come together, socialise and enjoy a healthy meal at affordable prices.
“This is a truly fantastic initiative that we have working down here, and it is one I would love to see rolled out across our borough,” said Cllr Zahid Chauhan OBE.
“Through this partnership, we are seeing those often written off by society benefit being offered the chance to develop new skills, build their social skills and confidence, and become employment-ready.
“But not only that, we also have a thriving community hub where people come together to socialise and eat healthy and nutritional meals, instead of eating in isolation – with some residents coming from as far as Manchester because they like it here so much.
“This project has so many wider benefits, so I’m calling on other local housing providers to come here, learn from this experience and help us to provide a similar support network for other people across Oldham.
“Residents don’t necessarily need a dedicated living scheme to do this, all we need is existing buildings with kitchen facilities in our communities to skill people up and support people’s wider needs.”
Fully qualified international chef Anna Kennedy first started the project back in 2022 having previously felt written off by society herself at a time when she was bordering on alcoholism and drinking up to nine litres of whisky a week.
“People use to reject me, so I know how it feels to be in their shoes,” revealed Anna, having also been formerly classed as morbidly obese.
“Doing this has not only helped me, it’s helped others as well and training these people and seeing them grow into what they are now is my biggest achievement.
“I’ve trained people, who couldn’t even make a cup of tea or use a potato peeler, into chefs who can cook delicious meals such as roast lamb shanks, chilli, paella and chicken curry.”
According to a recent poll by YouGov, more than a third of people say don’t feel confident cooking fresh ingredients without a recipe.
“Most of our volunteers now know how to cook healthy recipes for themselves at home, which is massive,” Anna adds.
“Not only are they eating the right food – a key factor for many people recovering from addiction – they are learning how to cook at low cost too, so it’s keeping money in their pockets at a time when costs are still rising.
“To see the community we have built here for the local residents is phenomenal as well, as it’s our food that is getting people out and bringing them closer together, I love it.”
Speaking to some of the volunteers who work at Anna’s Community Cafe, 40-year-old Fran, who first got involved with the project three weeks ago after being introduced to it by the Drug and Alcohol recovery service Turning Point, said: “I love it here, it’s great,”
“I’ve got my confidence back speaking to people.
“When you’re in recovery, you can sometimes get tagged with that shameful stigma, but these people know where I’m from, they don’t judge me in any way, shape, or form, and it’s really filled my confidence.
“I’ve always enjoyed cooking but since my daughters have grown up and moved out, and you start cooking for yourself, you pick the easy things to eat, whereas when I’m here, I’m cooking proper meals for people so it’s nice to be creative and take that home.
“I’m helping to give local residents proper food as well so it’s nice to give something back.”
Fellow volunteer Tyler, aged 21, also enjoys working here and now has aspirations to one day run his own kitchen.
Tyler, who suffers from disabilities including epilepsy, autism and KBG syndrome, struggled to even speak to others when he first started but Anna sang his praises, while he made the Mayor a Latte, on how much his confidence has grown.
“Anna has taught me everything, she’s fantastic,” Tyler added.
The project continues to grow from strength to strength and over the summer it provided more than 1700 meals for free to children across Oldham during the six-week holidays.
Janice Crompton, Housing Services Manager at Housing 21, said: “We are delighted to be working with Anna and her team of volunteers. They do an amazing job supporting our residents at St Herbert’s Court and residents across the wider borough too.
“This is a fantastic initiative, and we are proud to be a part of it so we echo the Mayor’s calls for this to be replicated and we hope it helps to meet and serve the needs of more residents living in Oldham.”
