Ambitious Clowne community project serves up hot meals to the vulnerable

The inaugural meal at Heritage High School fed 13 members of the community, with the assistance of chef and owner of Aston Springs Farm restaurant Andy Brooks.

He was also supported by Paul Beckworth from Mellors Catering, using the secondary school’s kitchen as the base for preparing the food.

The scheme is now providing hot meals to people’s doorsteps each Monday and since the inaugural meal, many more people have come forward asking for support.

A total of 17 community members are currently receiving a hot meal and dessert.

The team hopes to grow this initiative further, providing meals to the most vulnerable members of the community a few times a week during this challenging time.

Donations of food from the Tesco store in Clowne supported the first meal.

Mughal Kashmir, an Indian restaurant in Clowne, supplied all of the packaging free of charge in order to deliver the meals and a team of willing volunteers were on standby to take the food to the vulnerable residents as soon as they were ready.

The initiative came through Clowne Community Association, which applied for grant funding from Bassetlaw Community Voluntary Services and were awarded a small grant to start the project. This was boosted from an anonymous local donor by a further £1,000.

Coun Ross Walker, chairman of Clowne Parish Council, said: “I would like to thank every member of the community who has generously given their time, talent and resources to make this possible. It is amazing to be part of a community which has come together in such a difficult time and shown such outstanding community spirit.

“The commitment people have shown throughout this time has been so inspiring and I hope the community are proud of their contributions and collaboration to help people who really need it.”