Sustainable Food Place awards are designed to recognise and celebrate the success of areas taking a joined up, holistic approach to food, that are achieving significant positive change on a range of key food issues.
Through this awards scheme we can celebrate and highlight the excellent working taking place across the city working towards #GoodFoodForAll whilst also identifying key areas that need development in the years to come.
Organisations and businesses across the city can play a part in Liverpool’s journey towards this award by sharing evidence of how Liverpool is working towards these six key issues:
Taking a strategic and collaborative approach to good food governance and action
Building public awareness, active food citizenship and a local good food movement
Tackling food poverty and diet related ill-health and increasing access to affordable healthy food
Creating a vibrant, prosperous, and diverse sustainable food economy
Transforming catering and procurement and revitalising local and sustainable food supply chains
Tackling the climate and nature emergency through sustainable food & farming and an end to food waste
If you are doing work connected to any of these issues that you would like to highlight as part of Liverpool’s bid, please email our award coordinator Dr Naomi Maynard on [email protected] with a short description of your work and evidence demonstrating how it has contributed towards one of these six areas. We can include any evidence from the last three years as part of our application.
Deadline: 1st September 2023 for information to be included.
Feeding Liverpool, Everton in the Community and Conal Studio celebrate success at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park
Conal McGuire, Sarah Atherton and Dr Naomi Maynard Photo credit: Emma Case
Brickyard show garden, designed by Conal McGuire from Conal Studio, was awarded the highest honour at the RHS Flower Show: a Gold Medal and the award for Best Terrace and Slim Space Garden. Conal Studio has partnered with Feeding Liverpool and Everton in the Community to bring the garden back to Liverpool after the show, relocating it to Everton in the Community’s purpose-built mental health and wellbeing hub, The People’s Place – forming a lasting legacy for the city.
Brickyard’s design is influenced by traditional brickyards that run alongside thousands of UK terraced streets. It responds to the limitations of awkward inner-city growing spaces and looks at how we can adapt them for modern living. Factors such as tenancy agreements, environmental concerns, tradition, and cost have a massive impact on how people utilise these spaces. The aim is to inspire new ways of thinking, by developing solutions for people that they may not have thought of.
“Seeing this garden through from concept to reality has been a wonderful opportunity. There have been challenges along the way but knowing that Brickyard will go on to have a meaningful legacy back in Liverpool after Tatton makes it all worthwhile. I would like to thank Feeding Liverpool and Everton in the Community for their involvement, these two charities are close to my heart and represent some of our cities finest and kindest. I hope that Brickyard encourages people to boost urban biodiversity and inspires them to develop their own awkward outdoor spaces.” Conal McGuire at www.conalstudio.com
Photo credit: Emma Case
Offering a new template for green urban design, and becoming a backdrop for community learning and engagement, ‘Brickyard: Grow, Cook, Eat’ will be permanently rehomed after the show to Everton in the Community’s The People’s Place.
The People’s Place is the first purpose-built mental health and wellbeing hub attached to a Premier League football club and houses the charity’s 15 mental health projects and provides wellbeing activities alongside educational and employment support. The garden will become the latest addition to the Goodison Campus, offering a safe space for staff and service users to host one-on-one therapy sessions, community events, group counselling and community outreach work as well as giving residents access to homegrown food and equipping them with the skills to grow their own produce.
The majority of Everton in the Community’s delivery takes place in Liverpool 4, which is one of the most socially deprived wards in the UK, with both Everton and Kirkdale among the 10 most economically deprived ‘food deserts’ in England.
“Everton in the Community is thrilled to partner with Feeding Liverpool and Conal Studio to bring ‘Brickyard: Grow, Cook, Eat’ to The People’s Place. As a charity, we pride ourselves on acting upon the needs of the local community and improving access to homegrown produce is one that must be addressed to help tackle issues of food insecurity.
“This is a great opportunity for us, which will allow the community and our participants to access a green growing space and take up gardening to help aid their wellbeing. The garden will also help to support the delivery of our programmes and enhance what we can offer at The People’s Place, so we are honoured for it to be placed with us and continue Brickyard’s legacy.”
The garden will also be accessible to Feeding Liverpool’s network as they bring organisations and residents together to deliver engagement activities around Good Food For All, with both Feeding Liverpool and Everton in the Community supporting to Liverpool’s Good Food Plan.
In Liverpool more than 1 in 3 adults are food insecure – with food being a source of worry, and households reducing the quality and quantity of food they are eating, skipping meals and for some going hungry. Many residents also do not have access to their own green growing spaces.
Liverpool’s Good Food Plan seeks to develop ‘food citizenship’ through enabling residents to have the power and tools to shape their own food environments. Urban food growing is a foundation stone of this vision. The partnership developed through ‘Brickyard: Grow, Cook, Eat’ will have numerous benefits for residents including encouraging healthy eating, a sense of wellbeing and improving food security.
Our Director Dr Naomi Maynard shared:
“Feeding Liverpool is delighted to partner with Conal Studio and Everton in the Community to bring ‘Brickyard: Grow, Cook, Eat’ to Liverpool. Good food is the foundation of strong communities in our city, bringing people from all different walks of life together. Our hope is that Brickyard will inspire urban growing in unusual spaces across Liverpool alongside being a focal point for good food in Everton.”
Come and visit the Feeding Liverpool team this July as we head to RHS Flower Show Tatton Park
This year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park from 19th – 23rd July will feature show-garden ‘Brickyard’: Grow, Cook, Eat’ a sustainable, creative urban-growing space that strengthens biodiversity and connects city residents with the joy of growing good food.
The show garden designed by Conal McGuire is the first public project from Conal Studio and is a collaboration with charity partners Feeding Liverpool, the city’s food alliance passionate about ensuring everyone can eat good food, and Everton in the Community, the charitable arm of Everton Football Club that tackles social issues across the city including employability, mental health, education and poverty.
After the show, the garden will be relocated to Everton in the Community’s purpose-built mental health hub, The People’s Place, forming a lasting legacy for the city.
“Feeding Liverpool is delighted to be supporting Conal Studio and Everton in the Community with the development and post-show relocation of Brickyard. The vision and values of Brickyard bring to life Liverpool’s Good Food Plan, enabling food citizenship through making urban food growing accessible for all. Our team are looking forward to welcoming visitors to the garden to showcase the intricate garden structures that provide new ways to bring food growing into inner city spaces” – Dr Naomi Maynard, Feeding Liverpool Director
Brickyard’s design is influenced by the traditional brickyards that run alongside thousands of UK terraced streets. It responds to the limitations of awkward inner city growing spaces and looks at how we can adapt them for modern living. Factors such as tenancy agreements, environmental concerns, tradition, and cost have a massive impact on how people utilise these spaces. Steel and reclaimed brick evoke the materials found in traditional brick-yards, here reimagined in a contemporary design. The ‘Granby Rock’ Terrazzo is made from the waste material of demolished Victorian terrace houses from inner-city Liverpool. It is woven through the garden, physically integrating and repurposing original material from the inspiration behind Brickyard.
During the show Brickyard will host live demonstrations from Andrea Ku of B 4 Biodiversity. Andrea will be demonstrating how the gardens unique grow-frames enable people to cultivate food organically, in awkward outdoor spaces at home, or in shared gardens. These frames will demonstrate the benefits of companion planting and will house bespoke habitats for rare species of bumblebee and other wildlife.
Feeding Liverpool are looking to recruit a full-time Project Support Officer to join our small, friendly, vibrant team as together we work towards a future where everyone in Liverpool can eat good food. This role will play a key part in connecting and equipping people, projects and organisations to work towards implementing Liverpool’s Good Food Plan, which is at the heart of what we do.
In our Job Pack below we have given a taster of the type of projects the Project Support Officer will support, including our work around The Healthy Start Scheme and distributing funding to our network. This role will also have a strong communications element, playing a central part in developing and maintaining our social media conversations and communications with our network.
The role requires a positive attitude and a flexible approach: to be willing and able to take on a wide range of tasks. This is a great opportunity for someone passionate, creative, and organised, who likes a challenge. You will need to be an excellent communicator, motivated, and a good time manager who can collaborate well with others. Our team members go the extra mile, driven by the understanding that everyone at Feeding Liverpool and with our wider ‘good food’ network can make a lasting impact in tackling food insecurity and improving access to good food in Liverpool.
Job title: Project Support Officer
Reporting to: Project Manager
Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week, Monday-Friday. Occasional evening/weekend work may be involved, dependent on the needs of each project.
Salary: £24,000 per year
Contract: This is a fixed term contract until 1st August 2024. Any extension is subject to further funding for this post being secured.
Closing Date: Applications should be sent to Project Manager Elena Vacca by 11.59pm on Sunday 9th July. If you have any questions about the role please email Elena on [email protected] or telephone 07723 291697.
For full details how to apply and to read our Job Pack visit our vacancies page
Feeding Liverpool is delighted to have received funding from The Alder Hey Healthy Weight Programme.
1 in 3 children leave primary school overweight or obese, with obesity-related illnesses costing the NHS billions of pounds each year. Obesity is a major risk factor for an individual’s health and is a leading cause of preventable illness including heart disease, diabetes and premature death. Living with obesity can also affect quality of life and impact mental health. Evidence suggests that weight management services can help children and young people and their families to adopt healthier behaviours, lose weight and improve their general wellbeing.
Developed by Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Public Health Liverpool, the ‘Healthy Weight’ programme will help support families in Liverpool who are at risk of experiencing excess weight during pregnancy, infancy and childhood.
This funding will enable Feeding Liverpool and our partners to grow and develop five projects across the city focused on improving access to healthy food for families and children. This will include working with our partners Feedback to expand the Queen of Green’s mobile greengrocer service, prioritising new stops in the region’s ‘food deserts’ – places with poor access to affordable fresh fruit and vegetables – and extending opening hours to provide greater access for working households. We will also work with community food spaces to extend wrap around support for low-income households and create new communications resources supporting residents to access these services. The programme funding also enables Feeding Liverpool to continue to deliver Community Healthy Start Champions training and supports the continuation of the Alexandra Rose Voucher Scheme in children’s centers in Liverpool which supports families to increase the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diets.
Other organisations who have benefited from this fund include:
Tuebrook Active
Autism Adventures
Beautiful New Beginnings
The New Belve Youth and Community Sports Centre
Family Active – Diverse Active C.I.C
Happy Health Active Lives
Dr Senthil Senniappan, Clinical Director for Endocrinology and lead for weight management service at Alder Hey said: “This is an exciting project bringing together a fruitful partnership between Liverpool City Council and Alder Hey to promote the health and wellbeing of children and young people in the region. With rapidly rising levels of weight related complications, this is a very welcome move to promote healthy living and to prevent future weight related complications. Our clinical team is excited to be part of this new collaboration.”
Professor Matthew Ashton, Director of Public Health at Liverpool City Council said: “The Health Survey for England 2021 estimates that 25.9% of adults in England are obese and a further 37.9% are overweight but not obese. These rates will be much higher amongst children living in poverty. Together with Alder Hey, we are dedicated to helping families in Liverpool tackle obesity and help reduce health inequalities. I’m delighted with how the Programme will help our communities live healthier and more active lives.”
Since 2021 Feeding Liverpool has led Liverpool’s Good Food Plan and listening to people across Liverpool as they have answered this question: “What does Good Food mean to you?”
For many, it means eating our cultural food. Feeding Liverpool have also heard how the traditions surrounding cultural food are important to our wellbeing through our sense of shared identity, community, and heritage.
This year, working with local photographer Emma Case and community groups across Liverpool, Feeding Liverpool have begun building a collection of food stories through photographs and interviews.
Naomi Maynard, Director of Feeding Liverpool says:
“At Feeding Liverpool we believe that local people should have the power and resources to shape their local food environments and the food system as a whole. Over the last two years we have heard from residents how good food can make us feel empowered, dignified, connected, joyful, and nostalgic, and that it is important that everyone in our city can enjoy good food. Good Food; Our Food brings to life good food stories from communities across Liverpool in a powerful and provocative way, whilst inviting each of us to join the conversation to explore what good food means to you.”
Photographer and Feeding Liverpool’s Creative Engagement Officer Emma Case says:
“It’s been an absolutely incredible time getting to know all the wonderful people and families who have been involved in this project. I’m so grateful for them all. Their stories are rich and powerful, and I love that they are being shared. Partnering with Feeding Liverpool has meant this project has been for a greater cause and as a photographer, you can’t get any better than your work having this kind of impact.”
Dagmara Wojciechowicz, Manager of Merseyside Polonia and partner on Good Food; Our Food, says:
“We are incredibly honoured to partner with Feeding Liverpool and Emma Case on this event. I feel that our organisations share a passion for addressing issues that are affecting our local communities. Having access to culturally appropriate food is a necessity shared between all community members, universal to their country of origin. We are pleased that together we can support and advocate for wider community groups who found home here in Liverpool and Merseyside. We are such a welcoming city and this event is all about Scouse hospitality and all of our neighbours who chose this city to call home.”
The Good Food; Our Food travelling photos and story exhibition will be launched at The Black-E on Saturday 20th May: find out more about the launch Good Food; Our Food Exhibition Launch
After the launch, the exhibition will travel around local communities groups.
The Easter Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme runs from Monday 3rd April to Sunday 16th April and there are lots of great activities happening over the school holidays.
Children and young people, from reception to age 16, who are eligible for benefits related free school meals, will be able to access hundreds of activities throughout the half term holidays including specific provision available for children with SEND or additional needs, at no cost.
There’s a great range of activities across the city including boxing, football, music, dance, cycling, cooking, discos, films, bowling, arts and crafts, drama, a make up course, trips out, Eurovision themed activities and much more! Every day there will be a range of fabulous meals available with many schemes holding family events as well.
There is a downloadable list of providers and a map that has the information about each provider and where the provision is taking place. You can also find the information via the Mersey Play Action Council App which is free to download for both Apple and Android phones.
Helpful Information
Parents/guardians/carers will just need to choose an activity, then contact that organisation to book a place. If the child has any additional needs or dietary requirements then you can discuss this with the organisation when you book.
Each organisation will have either a telephone number, email address or online booking system. There is no central booking system so you will need to contact the providers directly.
Additional information:
If you want to know how to register or how to check if your child is eligible for free school meals then please click on the link https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
You will need your national insurance number or an asylum seekers support number.
If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk. Click on the link to find out how to register https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/
Liverpool City Council is working with Mersey Play Action Council, Sutton Croft and the local schools, voluntary and community organisations, and childcare providers to deliver the Easter HAF.
The Family Information and SEND Directory also provides a wealth of useful information and support for families – FISD.
Are you passionate about improving food access for low income families in the UK? Looking for a PhD that will also provide the opportunity to work closely with a local public health team and food alliance?
The University of Liverpool and Feeding Liverpool are looking for a PhD candidate to undertake research on food insecurity, with a particular focus on The Healthy Start Scheme.
This funded-PhD will be supervised by Dr Rachel Loopstra, Professor David Taylor Robinson and Dr Naomi Maynard.
Deadline: 1st March 2023, with an expected start date of October 2023.
Do you have a passion for food, and the important role it plays in your family and cultural heritage?
If so, Feeding Liverpool would love to invite you to be involved in our photography project. Working with Photographer Emma Case, through photographs and interviews, we want to build a collection of stories celebrating the relationship between food, culture, identity, and how important this is for our wellbeing.
Our aim is to show how our cultural food and the traditions surrounding it are important to our wellbeing through our sense of identity, community, and heritage. We are interested in stories that touch on these themes. We are also interested in sharing experiences of how your culture’s food may be difficult to access (maybe in hospitals or school, etc) and the effect that can have.
We are looking for families and individuals who would like to share their ‘food’ story. It would involve being photographed as you cook your favourite recipe, and a short interview. We would need a couple of hours of your time and will cover the cost of the ingredients for the meal, as well as offering a ‘thank you’ gift voucher to show our appreciation for your time.
The photographs and interviews will be shared as a touring exhibition in Liverpool in May 2023 and you will be invited to a sharing event to launch the tour (which will include food!).
If you are interested in being involved you can email Emma at: [email protected]
