News
TRH hold a reception for school cooks at Clarence House
15th February 2007
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall paid tribute to school cooks who are helping to make healthier food for the nation’s children at a Clarence House reception today.
A Headteacher and School Cook from 60 schools from around the country were invited to stress the importance of giving pupils nutritious meals.
The Schools Food Trust helped to select the schools who were chosen for their efforts to improve school food and educate children about food and where it comes from.
The Prince has visited a number of schools to highlight the importance of good food and locally sourced produce including Brimsham Green School and Hotwells Primary School.
His Royal Highness also supplies Gloucestershire schools with organic potatoes and carrots from the Duchy Home Farm.
Chef Jamie Oliver, who has led a prominent campaign to improve school food in the United Kingdom, attended the event with his fellow campaigner and school cook Nora Sands.
Their Royal Highnesses revealed they were big fans of Jamie's television series Jamie's School Dinners, in which he campaigned to improve the quality of food served in school canteens.
Mrs Sands was barely able to contain her excitement at meeting Their Royal Highnesses at Clarence House.
She said: "It's your wildest dreams to be at what I keep calling the Palace - it is compared to my front room.
"The Prince was so lovely. They were just like normal people. I didn't expect them to be like that."
The Prince and The Duchess separated to meet the guests, who were served hotpot made from organic Welsh lamb and pannacotta.
The Prince asked Doreen Bamford, Deputy Head of Spalding High School in Lincolnshire, whether her school grew its own vegetables.
She said: "Lincolnshire is the main vegetable growing area, so we have got an awful lot of local suppliers anyway - and we have set up a herb garden within the school.
"The Prince was also talking about the challenge of getting the students to sit down and have a meal and of teaching them to have good manners, which we are also encouraging."
His Royal Highness spoke to Keeley Monk, Catering Manager of City of Leicester
College, about the problems of providing nutritious meals for pupils on a tight budget.
She said: "He seems genuinely interested, which is really nice to know."
Ms Monk said City of Leicester College had used extra Government funding to introduce experiments like vegetable and exotic fruit tastings for pupils.
The Cook and Headteacher of Parc Primary School in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, presented The Prince with an engraved clock made from Welsh slate as a gift from the children.
Headteacher Joy Bishop said: "He said we shouldn't have done that and thank you very much.
"We told him how pleased the children would be. They have been very excited about us coming up.
"We're just from a small valley community - these are things they have seen on the TV, they are aware he's the future King."
The Duchess talked with the guests about how school meals were getting better.
Dot McDougal, Catering Manager at Pittville School in Cheltenham, Glos, said: "She was asking us about what we did and how things have changed over the last few years.
"We were saying how we have been doing it for a long time - eating well at Pittville is part of the culture."
She added: "The Duchess was very nice, very enthusiastic - it's really encouraging as caterers to know that they're on your side."
Their Royal Highnesses also met representatives of the School Food Trust, which oversees the Government's school food reforms and was set up in 2005.
Food writer Prue Leith, the Government's new School Meals Adviser and Chair of the trust, said the reception was recognition of the "hard work and dedication" that went on in school kitchens.
She said: "This event shouts from the rooftops that school food is changing and that this is hugely important for the children of this country."