Young people from the Trent Bridge Community Trust’s Positive Futures programme were given the opportunity to expand their culinary skills with chefs from the venue’s Cricketers’ Suite.
The restaurant in the Radcliffe Road end has been a staple of spectators’ matchday experience for decades, and the youngsters were given an insight into life in a working kitchen, as well as hints and tips on how to eat healthily.
“Some of the things we told them were real eye-openers,” said Trevor Alexander, Chef in the Cricketers’ Suite.
“They saw 12 cubes of sugar piled up in front of a drinks bottle, and were told ‘that’s how much sugar is in there’.
“Until you see that visually, you don’t really have a clue how much sugar that is, and it can be quite frightening.
“When we got them in the kitchen, the main thing for them was to have fun. Some of them were a bit like rabbits in headlights at first – the kitchen is very big and it might all have seemed a bit strange to them – but we talked to them as young adults, not as kids, and they really enjoyed it.
“It was all about building teamwork and a bit of confidence. We told them that if they burned something or got something wrong, it didn’t matter.
“We’ve shown them the right way to do things, and they all seem to have dived in and grasped it.”
The event was just one of a range of initiatives organised by the Trust’s Positive Futures project, which helps young people between the ages of eight and 19 who are at risk of social exclusion.
“Today was really fun – I learned a lot of new things about how easy it is to cook something fresh, and that there’s more to eating healthily than just getting your five-a-day,” said 14-year-old Amalie Ford.
“Positive Futures has been great for me – it’s helped me to meet new people and learn how to interact in different environments, and I’ve learned a lot of new life skills.”
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Find out more about the work of Positive Futures here.