It's SepTenner time!

We've had an unbelievable first year at the Community Kitchen, but there is so much more we want to do. Last year, we raised over £2,500 during our SepTenner campaign for a commercial dishwasher and soundproofing works.

This year, we want to raise funds to offer a different themed community cookery workshop each month. A donation of just £10 could help us offer new workshops benefiting people who would not access these experiences otherwise, due to challenges from low income to physical and mental health.

Our new workshops could cover: baking for wellbeing, fermented foods, vegan feasts, outdoor cooking at a community garden, South Indian curries, healthy eating hacks, breakfast inspiration, seasonal baking (eg family pancake day session), a veggie Christmas feast, and our affordable bread & affordable seafood classes which are kindly supported by the Open Bakery and Riddle & Finns.

At the moment, our core community courses offer basic cookery skills over 5-weeks, and these courses are always over-subscribed. Participants are often keen to attend further sessions to build on their knowledge and inspiration. After attending previous classes, participants have been inspired to make significant changes to their diet, nutrition and cooking habits, as well as feeling more confident, happier and less isolated.

What we've done so far

The Community Kitchen builds on the Food Partnership's 10 years experience of teaching cookery skills and running community food activities. Already, we have:

* Served over 3,500 meals at our kitchen table

* Run over 100 community cookery sessions for people who can benefit from cooking & sharing food, including those on benefits & low incomes, people with learning disabilities or those with physical or mental health issues.

* Received support from over 60 volunteers who gave more than 2,000 hours of their time on everything from supporting participants to washing up

* Hosted community groups such as Age UK, Refugee Radio and the Carers Centre, as well as local companies and over 1,000 keen cooks who attended our popular evening & weekend classes.

The appeal

Our community cookery workshops vary in cost depending on topic, ingredients, length and whether the leader is able to donate their time. There is also a cost for staff time to recruit and book participants. Participants make a small donation of £5-10 per session if they can afford it, to secure their space.

On average each workshop costs about £350, so a year of monthly workshops would cost £3,600 after donations from participants.

We hope to raise half of these funds online through this crowdfunding page, and the other half offline through our fundraising classes and other donations. If you need more inspiration to donate, read the stories of people who've benefited from our cookery classes here.

Please donate £10 (or more if you can!) before 4th October, and help 'pay it forward' so other people can attend cooking classes. All donors will be entered into a draw for a spice kit from Chef Kanthi's Spice Circuit tours - we have 15 of these to giveaway.

Please share your support on social media using #SepTenner and @btnkitchen. Social media is a proven way to increase donations!

With many thanks

The team at BHFP