News from Knowsley Eating healthy – wartime style.

A group of local people in Knowsley have combined the current trend for growing your own with the down to earth basics of wartime cooking.

A mother and toddler group based in a Kirkby community centre cleared and created their own allotment plot four years ago.

A variety of local groups now have plots on the land and they are starting to see the first fruits of their labour.

As part of a local history project, the women and the local pensioners group who also have a plot, came up with some recipes from World War Two.

The hardships of war made growing your own a necessity and the older residents came up with a wide variety of recipes.

They use the sorts of foods that are grown on the allotment and they hope it will encourage more people to at least eat more fresh food, if not grow it.

The recipes have been put into a book, “From Soil to Plate”, which was launched with Knowsley’s Mayor, Cllr Michael Foulkes at Northwood Community Centre.

The book was created with the help of Knowsley Council’s Community Development team and Liverpool Maritime Museum.

“We love working on the allotment,” said Carol Birchall, one of the founder members of the Northwood Health Group.

“The food we have grown so far tastes much better than what you buy in the shops and it’s nice to be out in the open.

“My little lad doesn’t like eating veg but I’m hoping that by getting him working on the allotment and seeing how things are grown, he’ll change his mind.”

The Allotments Group was created to enable the women to grow their own produce and promote healthy eating.

They then set up other groups, culminating in the Health Focus Group through which they work on improving the wider community.

Cllr Foulkes said: “This is a great example of people working together to really make a difference to the way they live and the area they live in.

“They have grown everything from potatoes and carrots to raspberries and apples on land that was once an eyesore – it’s incredible.”

The Northwood Allotments group on their plot with Knowsley’s Mayor, Cllr Michael Foulkes.