Lincolnshire Food Summit 2024
The Food Summit brought together people wishing to work together in Lincolnshire to end poverty and ensure access to good food for all.
Video recordings
News from the network
What’s happened since last year’s Food Summit – including:
- a framework for going beyond food, reducing dependency and increasing dignity
- update on developments for a National Kitchen in Gainsborough
- news and invitations from across Greater Lincolnshire
Reducing dependency on emergency food
CREDIT Simon Hawking, Acts Trust
How to support people who are frequently and consistently using food banks
Long term solutions: Conditions for Success
| BUILDING COMMUNITY | WORKING WITH / EDUCATING REFERRAL AGENCIES | INCOME MAXIMISATION | BETTER COMMUNICATION | COURSES / EDUCATION | GROCERY | WELLBEING | UNDERSTANDING WHY A FEW PEOPLE MISUSE THE SYSTEM |
| Places where people can build community together (eg churches) | Triage (eg Restore System / No Wrong Door) | Citizen’s Advice worker (at Lincoln Foodbank Centres) for benefits checks and general advice | Strategy for raising awareness of needs and support available | Life skills | Low Cost Shopping | Coaching and Befriender training | Overuse of FBs may be preventing crime – what are people’s alternatives? |
| Peer support – to reduce dependency on services for problem solving and for reducing isolation | Raise awareness of options beyond food banks | Job Clubs | PR | (See ‘Income Maximisation’) for crossover | On doorstep of DWP and City Hall – improve referral pathways | ‘In Employment’ support | Psychology – why don’t people want to change? |
| ‘Virtuous Circle’: Encouragement >: Self Belief > Motivation > Success | Training referrers on what to do if further support is needed | Budgeting Courses (eg CAP Money) | Sharing success stories | HSF funding memberships and shops | Access to wellbeing services (eg Night Light) | ||
| More likely to Act if part of a group | To raise donations | HSF3 help with moving costs? |
Addressing deprivation through food education
Tower Road Academy + Boston Market Garden – a powerful partnership between a primary school and an urban market garden.
Washingborough Academy + TastEd – sensory food education as a foundation for healthy eating and enjoyment of diverse foods.
GoGro – chefs teach cooking skills, to empower people to enjoy healthy, tasty meals on a small budget.
Addressing deprivation through food education: Panel discussion
Interview with panel, chaired by Laura Stratford
- Rob Hewis, from GoGro
- Jason O’Rourke, from Washingborough Academy / TastEd
- Sarah Smith, from Tower Road Academy
- Tom Houghton, from Boston Market Garden
Speaking up for change
Bringing to the fore the stories of those who feel invisible
Interview panel, Chaired by Simon Hawking, Acts Trust, with:
- Matti Colley, from Lincoln Anxiety Resilience Association
- Steve Meadwell, from the Centre for Social Justice
- Andy Cleaver, from the Trussell Trust
Changing the Status Quo
Interactive session
Mapping food support across Greater Lincolnshire, with Dr Carolina Camacho, University of Lincoln
- Where are we getting our food from?
- How other actors are interacting with social food provision?
- What issues our communities are facing?
Networking, developing local solutions, drawing a bigger picture
Who was at the Food Summit?
Video Responses at the Food Summit 2024
Hear from the delegates themselves Throughout the Lincolnshire Food Summit, we invited Food Partners to get in front of the camera, to speak about their organisations and communities, add some insights into challenges, and reflections around the big issues of the day. Here’s what they had to say! Mary Maguire and Mark WabyBardney Community Grocery…
Five takeaways from the Lincolnshire Food Summit 2024
The Lincolnshire Food Summit 2024, held on November 21st, gathered over 70 delegates to address food insecurity in Greater Lincolnshire. Key discussions included reducing stigma around seeking food assistance, the goal of diminishing foodbank reliance, collaboration among support organisations, the holistic benefits of community food projects, and promoting the enjoyment of nutritious food, especially for…
Speaking up for change: The determination to transform Lincolnshire’s food future
In a region as rich in agricultural heritage as Lincolnshire, the depressing irony of food poverty and inequality casts a long shadow. Yet, if one thing was clear from a recent gathering of changemakers, at the Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership’s recent Food Summit it was that there’s a palpable hunger – not just for food…
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Speaker Biographies
Addressing deprivation through food education
Laura Stratford (Chair)
Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership
Laura is the Coordinator of the Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership, a partnership of organisations across Greater Lincolnshire, working for fairer, greener healthier food for all. Food Partnership take a holistic, system perspective on food, rooted in place and community. Laura advocates for diverse food networks; addressing health and economic inequalities through better diets; and improving social and environmental connection through food. Her background is in education.
Dr Jason O’Rourke
Washingborough Academy / Taste Education
Jason, Headteacher of Washingborough Academy, is renowned for the school’s pioneering curriculum emphasising healthy living and food education. The academy is the sole in-house school caterer with the Soil Association’s prestigious Gold Catering Mark. Jason is the President of the SAPERE International Board, co-founder and trustee of TastEd, and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food. He received the Educatering School Food Plan Awards in 2016 and The Caroline Walker Trust Food Hero of The Year 2019, aligning with his doctorate focus on Food Education and School Leadership.
Sarah Smith
Tower Road Academy, Boston
Sarah is on the senior leadership team at Boston’s Tower Road Academy, where she has developed a unique partnership with an urban market garden. Pupils who are dealing with extra challenges (eg from deprived families, struggling with mental health, grief or have complex SEND needs) benefit from a regular to visit the market garden, where they learn how to grow vegetables as part of their school curriculum.
Tom Houghton
Boston Market Garden / the community growers CIC
Tom, founder of Boston Market Garden and the Community Growers CIC, has forged a unique partnership with Tower Road Academy. Each week, thirty pupils take the short walk to the garden, where Tom has carefully planned a curriculum which involves seasonal farming tasks such as growing seeds, harvesting fruits and vegetables, crop protection and weeding, as well as flower arranging, pressing fruit into juices, and feeding the chickens.
Rob Hewis
GoGro
Rob created GoGro CIC in 2021 after working in Public Health. As a Co-Director, Rob has developed and delivered projects that support people as young as 5 – and as old as 105 – bringing back memories through nostalgic food. Courses help people to realise that they can easily create healthy and tasty meals for their families for less than a pound per portion whilst also bringing people together, facilitating social interactions and new friendships.
Speaking up for change
Simon Hawking (Chair)
Acts Trust
Simon Hawking is the Chief Executive for Acts Trust, a charity founded by Alive Church in 2007, Simon trained as a debt counsellor with Christians Against Poverty, founding the CAP Lincoln debt centre. He has since helped his team to develop several other Acts Trust projects, including the Restore project, Lincoln Foodbank, Night Light Crisis Cafes and Lincoln Community Grocery which deliver aid to those in need. In 2016 he was awarded a Mayoral Medal for his commitment to tackling poverty in Lincoln.
Matti Colley
Lincoln Anxiety Resilience Association
Matti Colley has worked in a number of Third Sector organisations in Lincolnshire, including Think2Speak. She is currently providing marketing and media support for Mint Lane Wellbeing Hub and runs the Lincoln Anxiety Resilience Association (LARA), also based at the hub.
Andy Cleaver
Trussell
Andy Cleaver is the Area Manager at Trussell, the UK’s biggest foodbank network, whose mission is to end hunger for good, and ensure no one in the UK needs a food bank to survive. Starting as a Youth Worker at Fosseway YFC in 2007, Andy has gained experience in the non-profit sector, including Project Manager at Hinckley Area foodbank. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and Ministry.
Steve Meadwell
Centre for Social Justice
Steve, Midlands Regional Manager for Centre for Social Justice joins the Speaking Up for Change panel with a unique point of view. Harnessing the CSJ’s vision for those living in the poorest and most disadvantaged communities across Britain to be given every opportunity to flourish and reach their full potential.
Changing the status quo
Dr Caroline Camacho
University of Lincoln
Dr Carolina Camacho is an interdisciplinary researcher studying topics such as traditional farming systems, agrobiodiversity, technological change, local agri-food systems. For three decades, she has participated in development projects in the Global South and North studying the enabling environments facilitating technological transitions and promoting gender equity and social inclusion. Her experience has been focused on working with indigenous communities and small scale producers from whom she learned the importance to work on social, climate and food justice.
Food Summit organising team
Helen Fisher
We Are Carbon
Helen has created the podcast ‘We Are Carbon’ to explore the concept that thriving natural ecosystems are the answer to supporting a ‘beyond sustainable’ society. The podcast features interviews which span a range of focuses including farming, science, education and community to piece together a holistic view. Helen’s work also sees her bringing video production and communication skills to projects that are getting hands-on in taking steps towards a more regenerative future.
Laura Worsley
Lincolnshire Cooperative
Laura Worsley is a Senior Community Co-ordinator within the Community Team at Lincolnshire Co-op and has worked on projects that support local groups and charities to help make life better in the communities Lincolnshire Co-op serves. This includes running fundraising campaigns and green space initiatives, planning events and clean-up projects across Greater Lincolnshire and beyond. In particular, Laura leads food projects including building connections between Lincolnshire Co-op food stores and local food banks, running the annual Food Bank Advent Calendar campaign and implementing a network of ongoing support.
Caroline Kenyon
Chair of the greater lincolnshire food partnership
Caroline Kenyon is Founder/Director of The Food Awards Company, creating and delivering world-class food awards including the World Food Photography Awards. She is Co Chair of the Liberal Democrat Business Network and advisor on food policy to Lord (Dick) Newby, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Spending the last 20 years working with the British food industry, her political role has led her to become involved with issues of food poverty and sustainability, aiming to secure practical and achievable solutions.
With support from the Lincolnshire Community Foundation and Evan Cornish Grassroots Fund.
