30th September 2011

HONITON: Parents and toddlers 'make and munch'

By Lisa Bright

AN East Devon based charity that promotes healthy eating among children is celebrating its fifth birthday.

The Axminster based Health and Local Food for Families, who run free monthly “Make and Munch” sessions in Honiton for parents and toddlers, will be celebrating the milestone with a party next month.

Mother of two Tiggy Parry, from Whitford near Axminster, set up the charity in response to the government’s concerns about childhood obesity.

She felt she could help educate mothers and parents in the Honiton area about the importance of nutrition and launched the charity with the aim of offering free cooking sessions to young mothers and parents.

HALFF now run free monthly “Make and Munch” sessions in Honiton, Axminster Lyme Regis and Chard giving mums and toddlers the chance to prepare and cook healthy and nutritious meals together before sitting down to lunch as a group.

They also offer help and advice about nutrition and recipe books are available to buy featuring all the recipes they use.

The charity is funded by the National Lottery and through donations.

Tiggy said: “I had young children myself and could see there were some parents that felt a bit unconfident about what to feed their children because they didn’t have the background knowledge.

“There is often an assumption that most people can cook but it’s not the case. There are a lot of parents who didn’t have a mum to teach them how to cook or didn’t have stable upbringing where they could learn those skills.

“They need the help or they will just end up feeding their children junk.”

She added: “From the beginning it was difficult but now people know who we are. The people who come along to our sessions say it really helps them and we are really pleased about that.”

HALFF will be celebrating its fifth birthday next month with a special party at the Guildhall, Axminster.

They have invited children from the local primary schools and the morning will feature cooking demonstrations from celebrity chef Mark Hix.

Healthy food will be on sale throughout the day and children will be kept entertained with a puppet show.

The party will take place on Friday, October 7th from 10am to 12.30pm at the Guildhall, Axminster.

The next “Make and Munch” session will take place in Honiton at the Heath Park Community Flat on October 13th and November 10th from 10am to 12noon.

The sessions are free.

For more information about HALFF visit www.halff.org.uk.