Lunch club have recipe for success
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A COMMUNITY effort to build a better Buckie is already bearing fruit when a campaign to help those on tight budgets eat well got off the ground.
The Fishermen's Hall in Buckie played host to a Community Lunch, where a soup and sweet were far from being the only thing on the menu.
Taking centre stage was a drive to bring different strands of the community together to get behind a project aiming to help people living on a tight budget eat well and prepare meals from scratch.
Among the guests last Friday afternoon were group from Lhanbryde who are already successfully running a similar project plus a cook was on hand to discuss simple and easy ways to cook meals from scratch.
Once up and running, the initiative will offer instruction in basic cooking skills and shopping on limited means, while also acting as a forum to swap recipes and food ideas. Food for the event was supplied by Moray Food Plus.
Behind the scheme is Buckie Central East Community Monitoring Group, part of Moray Community Planning Partnership's Local Outcome Improvement Plan which was launched in the town in August under the banner of Build a Better Buckie.
Monitoring group chairman Gordon McDonald said: "The event was a great success and we've had lots of interest in taking this forward.
"The feedback has been really good and our next stage is to pull all the information together before deciding our next steps. At the moment we're getting a feel for the needs of people in Buckie and this sort of project is certainly something which fits very well with some of the core aims of our locality plan.
"Since Build a Better Buckie's launch in August this food project has been a priority for us."
Mr McDonald was in no doubt that the initiative could bring real benefits to many people in the area, helping them have healthy diets without breaking the bank.
"I think one of the most important things from the project is that we can show people that there are choices they can make in shops and supermarkets which are close to or the same as more expensive varieties of food," he continued.
"Another aspect will look at finding and using fresh produce which is cheaper and often better for you than processed food.
"We were lucky to have here today a group from Lhanbryde who've already started a project similar to our one and they have lots of ideas. There has also been a lot of support from food banks and other agencies, which we're very grateful for."
Also under the spotlight were community food growing spaces in the local area and across, which was being promoted by Moray Council.
