What happened in Weston-super-Mare on Get Travelling Day

Date: 8/11/2011

The clouds were grey and it was very English weather as we arrived at Worlebury St Paul's C.E.V.A. Primary School but we were soon on our way to China.  It was all part of Get Travelling Day thanks to Bernard Matthews Foodservice.  This was the second stop on this year's National School Meals Week (NSMW) Tour.

The day started with a very colourful school assembly where all the pupils dressed up in Chinese costume.  They then had an interactive assembly led by Lynda Mitchell, National Chair of LACA and Karen Fewell, one of the NSMW girls from the LACA conference.  They saw a number of pictures from Lynda's recent trip to Beijingand and admired her Chinese silk jacket.  The excitement continued as one class after another came on stage to have their costumes judged by Chris Walkden, National Account Manager, with Bernard Matthews Foodservice.  This must have been the hardest job of the day as the costumes were brilliant.  When each class had been on stage the winners were announced and invited back to receive their prizes.  There were lots of cheers and shouts of encouragement with big smiling faces from the winners as they all assembled on stage to judge the overall winner.

After morning break and a chance to let off some Chinese steam, class five returned to the school hall to help Chris decorate the room.  There were red and yellow tablecloths to represent China, flags, dragons, lots of balloons, bunting, chopsticks and special pots of noodles.  Finally lunch was ready and the dining room filled with children.  It was brilliant to see so many young people tasting new, healthy food using chopsticks to the best of their ability with a little help from the Midday Supervisory Assistants.

Chris Walkden, said, "It is days like this that make my job extra special, turkey is so popular with children and I just love to see the pleasure on their young faces.  It is great to know that all my colleagues are hosting similar events today in schools across the country and that more children are enjoying turkey as part of a school meal.  As a company, Bernard Matthews Foodservice, fully supports LACA in its promotional activity for healthy eating and encouraging more young people to have a school meal."

 Lunch was filmed by our cameraman Paul and his edited highlights of the day are on www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk.

Sadly lunch time came to an end but pupils of the school had had a great time as they all learnt about a new country both in class and at school lunchtime.  As Lynda commented, "This was a wonderful example of a whole school approach to healthy eating and I must thank the Head Teacher, Gillian Quick, and all her staff for helping and supporting the day."

LACA is also very grateful to Edwards and Ward for putting on such a lovely lunch.  Russ Templeman, Contracts Manager, from Edwards and Ward, said, "as a company we regularly have theme days because they prove so popular with the pupils.  It was brilliant for us to be involved with NSMW and to welcome the tour.  I think it is a great opportunity for us to provide some Chinese flavour to a national event and I hope the rest of the week is as successful as today."

 So next stop Solihull and a visit from Idris Caldora, a celebrity chef from the Academy of Culinary arts.