Over the past few weeks, Spurgeons Family Hubs has had the joy of welcoming 12 dads and 12 children to take part in a cooking and community course: ‘Cooking with Dad’. The programme was set up to encourage dads and their children to come along and spend some quality time together whilst cooking a dish to take home to enjoy with their family.
Partnering with Cook Stars, Community and Family Navigator, Samantha, kicked off the programme with a visit to the F3 Project allotment at St Michael’s Hall. There, families saw firsthand where the butternut squash for their bread would come from, while also learning about opportunities to volunteer at the project.
From bread to biriani
Since then, the group has rolled up their sleeves to bake butternut squash bread and cakes, with next week’s menu featuring vegetable biriani and naan bread. The highlight will be sitting down together as a community to share the meal, with families invited to bring all their children along to enjoy the experience.
To celebrate their achievements, anyone completing all four weeks will receive a blender to take home, along with a certificate and a “How to Cook on a Budget” book, kindly donated by Salisbury Foodbank.
Growing beyond the course
This has been a truly brilliant group, and we’re excited about the future. Plans are already underway to expand the programme to Wilton and Downton next year, supported by community groups and Food Ladder funding.
The dads themselves have voiced a strong desire for more local opportunities to connect. With Amesbury already hosting a popular dad group, we’re exploring the possibility of starting a regular group in our area too.
“It has been great to see the confidence within the group grow both parents and children. They have shown great enthusiasm to try new ingredients but most importantly they have all gained or developed a new skill in cooking.”
Building community, one meal at a time
This course has shown the power of food to bring people together. Whether it’s learning new skills, planting for the future or simply sharing a meal, we’re proud of what’s been achieved and can’t wait to see how this grows into even more opportunities for dads, children and families across our communities in Wiltshire.
