Capturing the Impact – St Werburgh’s Community Centre’s Rake and Bake Program

St Werburgh’s Community Centre in Bristol received a ￡10,000 community grant from Wesleyan Foundation to support the delivery of their Rake and Bake program. I recently went to meet the facilitator Misty and the cohort from the Autumn programme.

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Rake and Bake, operating since 2013, is a 7-week program that teaches growing and cooking your own food. Half the time is spent gardening, cultivating various produce for cooking, or donating to the on-site food bank/social supermarket at the Community Centre. People join through diverse avenues – such as local flyers or referrals from social prescribers, GP services, social care teams, and those using the centre’s food bank.

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After the 7-week program, participants can join garden classes at their convenience and there's a monthly gathering for "graduates" to reconnect socially.

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“It’s a real pleasure leading the course, we always have a mixture of abilities and cultures in the group, which makes every cohort so unique. We empower people to do as much as they can and to take turns in leading a session. The most important thing is that everyone feels included and has fun. This cohort we’ve had several people claim to cook the best dhal, we’ve joked about having a ‘dhal off’ to see who’s dhal really is the best”. - Misty programme facilitator.

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Menus for the groups are a collective effort. People from diverse backgrounds can take the lead in planning a session or request a session centred around their preferred food. The session I attended was Indian week, with one of the groups participants leading on cooking some delicious cuisine including a very tasty Dhal. The previous week had been Caribbean week with one of the participant’s being from Jamaica.

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“Learning to grow vegetables has been a huge step for me, I’ve got a little garden space, but never used it, this year after advice from Misty I’ve grown some callaloo which is very tasty.”

Participant

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I was given a tour of the garden by Misty and one of the participants, who said they’d learnt a lot from Misty, particularly around learning when to prune or cut back plants to help with future crops and maintaining plant health. Pumpkins had recently been harvested in the run up to Halloween, and Misty said they would be making some pumpkin chutney which they would sell to fund buying more items for their food bank.

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“I’ve made friends with people who I would never have met before, even though we live in the same area, and I would’ve walked past the others in the street but never spoken to them because we have such different backgrounds, but now I’ve got to know people I know there are a lot of things we do have in common. This course has brought us together and given me confidence to go out more and make more friends.” Participant

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I also spoke to participants back in the kitchen as they were plating up their Indian banquet. One said that greatest thing about the project was that it brought together people from all walks of life. Another told me that they had recently been struggling with grief, and his partner who attends the food bank had told him to sign up to the course. He said the course had been a real lifeline for him when he was going through a dark time.

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Coincidentally I supported someone with learning disabilities to attend the programme when it first started in 2013, and during my visit I was delighted to hear that they still visit most weeks to support with gardening at the centre. The participants mentioned seeing him watering plants the week before. This illustrates the longevity of social and wellbeing support the programme provides for people. Despite the course only being delivered for a 7-week period, this person has been accessing support from the group for over 10 years now.

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It's been a real pleasure visiting the Rake and Bake session and speaking with Misty and the participants and I look forward to seeing how they continue to support the community in the future.