A NEW kitchen at the Children’s Opportunity Centre in Coleford, means courses on food preparation for children and adults, thanks to two local companies, a grant from Gloucestershire Community Fund and lots of support from the community.

Caroline Jones, grants co-ordinator at the centre, said: “Two Rivers came to help last summer in our garden and as they were leaving one of the managers asked if there was anything else we needed. I jokingly said we could do with a new kitchen.

“In January we had a phone call from them asking when we wanted our kitchen delivered. They had teamed up with Travis Perkins, who are their man suppliers, to donate units, worktops, tiles and a cooker hood.

“Another local company gave us a commercial grade dishwasher and we’ve had £1,600 from Gloucestershire Community Fund for a new floor and to replace all our cutlery and crockery.

“The old kitchen dated back to the 1980s and desperately needed replacing. This work means we can bring the children into the kitchen to prepare snacks and drinks and also means we can start to run courses for local parents on food budgeting and cookery.

“It also makes it easier for us to run courses for fussy eaters, which we’ve done with success before with a rainbow vegetables course that saw children eating lots of foods that parents were convinced they wouldn’t touch.”

A local kitchen fitter, plumber and electrician, gave up their time to do the initial installation and parents, carers and members of staff all worked together to complete the work.

Garry King, Two Rivers Housing chief executive, said: “The Children’s Opportunity Centre workers and volunteers are the unsung heroes of the area helping many children from the local area and beyond and we were delighted to be able to help them for a day and to provide kitchen units for a refurbishment project they wanted to carry out.”