New healthy eating club to stop children in Adur going hungry over the holidays

A new healthy eating club, designed to ease holiday hunger among local children, will launch at Lancing Manor Leisure Centre this half term.
The club aims to combat holiday hungerThe club aims to combat holiday hunger
The club aims to combat holiday hunger

Charitable organisation Adur Community Leisure, which manages Lancing Manor under the Impulse Leisure brand, will open The Adur Grub Club this October thanks to a £6,860 grant from the National Lottery Awards for All.

Andrew Dunstan, Contracts Manager at Impulse Leisure, said Adur District is the most deprived district in West Sussex with many families struggling to feed their children during the school holidays.

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“Holiday hunger is a real issue for many families in Adur and can severely impact children’s health and wellbeing,” he said.

“We are delighted that thanks to National Lottery funding we can support local families during the holidays by combining healthy eating, cookery skills and physical activity through the new Adur Grub Club.”

The club will provide healthy lunches for local children aged seven to 13 who receive free school meals.

At each session, children will learn how to prepare and cook a two course meal under the guidance of a trained chef.

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Then while the meal is cooking, they can take part in a variety of sports and play activities with a qualified sports coach from Impulse Leisure to meet the Government’s target of 60 minutes of daily physical activity.

Afterwards, the children will sit and eat together, to encourage further social interaction among the group.

Adur Community Leisure will work in partnership with Adur and Worthing Councils’ local Wellbeing Team, who will signpost children to the Grub Club through the local Integrated Prevention Early Help team, key workers, school referrals and other local agencies.

Tammy Waine, Family and Wellbeing Officer at Adur and Worthing Councils, said: “When Lancing was highlighted as an area to target for The Grub Club it made complete sense to work in partnership with Impulse Leisure.

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“I have no doubt that these sessions will prove to be successful and help lots of families along the way.”

This issue of holiday hunger is a growing problem in the UK.

According to a poll conducted by the National Union of Education this summer, nearly four in five teachers believe that holiday hunger is affecting more children now than it did three years ago with many young people simply not getting enough food during the school holidays.

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The Adur Grub Club will initially run twice a week during every school holiday for a year.

For more information, please email [email protected] or call 01903 524635.