Making Local Food Work films released

New films share inspiring stories of communities taking control of the way they grow, buy and sell food

Three new short films tell the inspiring stories of communities around the country taking control of their food and where it comes from. The films www.sustainweb.org/makinglocalfoodwork/films look at the work of pioneering community groups, from Manchester, Newcastle and East London. The films were developed by Sustain and the Lottery-funded Making Local Food Work programme to inspire more people to join in.

“We started off on an allotment – a bunch of us with only limited skills who were just keen to see things happen,” says Ru Litherand of community group OrganicLea in the film about their work in East London.

The group has grown from an initial small allotment to an impressive 12-acre growing site. They also run a community café, a market stall, and a vegetable box scheme and train others in food growing and cooking. “Our role now is to support other people, because we’re going to need a lot more places like this,” says Ru.

OrganicLea depends on community involvement and volunteer help, driven by a passion that more food can and should be grown close to the people who eat it.  According to Marlene Barrett, food distribution co-ordinator at OrganicLea: “It’s very easy for people to lose that connection of where their food comes from. But here you can be involved in eating it, growing it, cooking it, buying it to take home. All those things are connected together.”

Meanwhile, Manchester Veg People are showing that community-based food projects have the potential to supply institutional as well as small-scale buyers. Within a couple of months of getting started, this growers’ and buyers’ co-operative is providing fresh, sustainably grown produce to the University of Manchester. With 26 outlets, the university’s catering operation serves thousands of meals every day.

As Al Clark, Environmental Officer for Residences, Catering, Conferencing & Sport at the University of Manchester says in the film “We buy from Manchester Veg People because it’s fantastic local produce. Being part of the co-op means we have a say in what is grown and work much closer with the growers and other buyers.”

In Newcastle, the social enterprise Food Chain North East are working in deprived areas to meet the needs of local residents for fresh food and fill the gap left by the closure of local food shops and the move towards out-of-town food superstores.

“A core area of our work is on the eastern seaboard of Durham County which is a former coalfield area, where many people have suffered from a closure of local shops” says Chief Officer Nigel Race in the film that covers the work of Food Chain North East .

Food Chain delivers fresh fruit and vegetables to market stalls and food co-ops throughout this area. Most of the co-ops rely at least partly on volunteers to run them “I like to know that people can get fresh fruit and veg because you really can’t get it for miles around here,” says one volunteer.

“Projects like ours offer people real opportunity to get involved,” say Nigel. “What we really need is local people to be part of the things that are going on, on the ground, whether it’s growing opportunities, forming buying groups or volunteering on their local projects.”

ENDS

Media enquiries: Clare Horrell, tel: 07766 296 245, email: clare@sustainweb.org

Notes to editors

1. Making Local Food Work programme is a Big Lottery funded programme helping people to take ownership of their food and where it comes from by providing advice and support to community food enterprises across England (www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk).

2. The three short films released today celebrate the work of pioneering community groups helping local people take more control of their food and where it comes from. The films cover the work of OrganicLea in Waltham Forest, East London; Manchester Veg People, Moss Brook Growers, Unicorn Grocery and Kindling Trust in Manchester; and Food Chain North East in Newcastle. Go to: www.sustainweb.org/makinglocalfoodwork/films to view the films.

3. OrganicLea is a workers’ co-operative growing and selling food in the Lea Valley in East London. They also run training courses and work to help communities set up their own food growing spaces (www.organiclea.org.uk). Photographs are available on request.

4. Manchester Veg People is a growers’ and buyers’ co-operative - the only multi-stakeholder co-operative in the UK (http://vegpeople.org.uk). Photographs are available on request.

5. Moss Brook Growers is a workers’ co-operative which grow vegetables on land leased from Unicorn Grocery, which is itself a workers’ co-operative (see note below).

6. Unicorn Grocery is one of the largest and most successful wholefood outlets in the UK. It sells affordable, wholesome food with an emphasis on organic, fair-trade and local produce (www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk).

7. Food Chain North East is a social enterprise that supplies fresh, affordable fruit and vegetables particularly to isolated and deprived communities. They try as much as possible to source locally (www.foodchain-ne.org).

8. The films were filmed, edited and produced by Mat McDonnell, a film maker with a special interest in sustainability challenges and solutions. For more examples of his work search Mat McD on http://vimeo.com/

9. Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. We represent around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level (www.sustainweb.org).

10. Growing Communities another local community partner in the Making Local Food Work project has also produced its own film independently. Growing Communities, runs a thriving organic vegetable box scheme, a farmers’ market, food growing sites in Hackney and an urban apprentice food growers scheme. See the Growing Communities film at: www.growingcommunities.org/about-us/