A new Family Hub has opened at the Brookhill Children’s and Community Centre in Greenwich, improving the local communities access to family support services, nurseries and childcare, as well as wellbeing and financial advice.
The centre managed by Home-Start Greenwich will be the fourth Family Hub to open in the borough, as Royal Borough of Greenwich and other key partners, such as our charity partner, Feeding Britain, look to actively improve the health and wellbeing of the local community and provide support to those that need it most.
As part of the initiative, the Hub has created a community kitchen called the Welcome Cafe, delivering affordable, delicious food to families, as well as specialist guidance on how to cook healthy, nutritious meals at home.
As a local school caterer, we are supporting the Community Café Manager to create a range of dishes made from food we donate to the hub, providing inspiration to families on how they can turn donated ingredients into a healthy, affordable meal. Cookery Clubs and nutrition workshops will also be offered as part of the Family Hub programme.
The Welcome Cafe will be a safe, friendly and inclusive space that provides activities that promote positive parenting skills, offers bespoke perinatal mental health and parent infant relationship support whilst integrating a nutritious and healthy eating concept.
To celebrate the opening of the new hub and café, families in the local area were treated to an official launch event which hosted a number of activities including an interactive cooking workshop, delivered by our expert team of nutritionists and chefs.
The day, which was attended by Commissioners and Heads of Service from the Royal Borough of Greenwich, saw over 200 people enjoy a selection of activities and interactive sessions aimed to highlight and raise awareness of the Family Hub Service offer; including; parenting support, perinatal mental health, Parent Infant Relationships, Infant Feeding and Nutrition and the Home Learning Environment.
The Healthy Eating session saw our team of chefs cook up a range of nutritious and tasty dishes, which were all made from ingredients we donated that would have otherwise gone to waste. On the menu were meals such as, Sage and Onion Butternut Squash Risotto, a Chinese Beef and Veg Broth, and a selection of festive treats including a Christmas shortbread and a ‘Ho ho ho’ Eton Mess.
Cllr Matt Morrow, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “There is a huge range of support on offer for families, from free activities and early learning for children right through to financial advice and wellbeing support for mums, dads and carers. Family Hubs are making life easy by putting it all in one place - providing the support families need, in the ways they need it. The Hubs are growing rapidly and I know that many families are already feeling the benefit.”
Leann Cross, Director, Home-Start Greenwich commented: “We’re all really excited about the launch of the new family hub. We know that many families within our local community are feeling the strain right now, so being able to provide them with a safe space where they can access a range of support, as well as expert food education and nutritional advice, is invaluable.
Dominic Honeysett, Executive Chef of London Greenwich, Chartwells said: “We work very closely with our partner schools in and around Greenwich - not only to deliver nutritious, healthy and delicious meals to the pupils, but to also provide education to young people on the importance of fuelling their bodies in the right way. However, we don’t want to stop there. We’re also keen to share our food knowledge through fun, experiential learning activities within the local communities in which we serve, as we continue in our mission to reach more and more young people both during and outside of term time to educate them on the importance of eating healthy and nutritious meals. It’s great to see those in the community come together and see them so engaged in learning about the importance of healthy food.
“We’re looking forward to working with the team at the Brookhill Children’s and Community Centre on a long-term basis, supporting the volunteers to create delicious and healthy meals for those who visit the hub, as well as working closely with them to deliver more activities, so we can help equip families in the local area, with the knowledge and confidence to create healthy and nutritious meals at home too.”