Peckham Children's Cooking and Exercise Programme January 2014

Fit Foodie founder, Eric

The Mini Cooking Club are launching a new and free programme called the Fit Foodie, designed by trained exercise physiologist and long-time volunteer Eric Ogbogbo. Eric has lived in South London all his life, and believes there is a need for more children’s activities that teach them how to be healthy.

This programme uniquely aims to combine cooking and exercise. It will improve children's practical cooking skills, fitness and their understanding of the benefits of physical activity. Those who attend this course will learn about how exercise can benefit physical health, boost mood and confidence, as well as improving body composition, strength and flexibility.

Eric says, “The Fit Foodie programme with The Mini Cooking Club is a project I am very passionate about, and absolutely thrilled to be starting. I’ve worked in both the private and public health sector as a physiologist and have witnessed how many people’s lives are affected by preventable health problems, because they have a poor lifestyle. Unfortunately the number is growing. 

“That’s when I was lucky enough to find The Mini Cooking Club and volunteered with them as they did wonderful work teaching children how to cook and eat well. The idea naturally came to combine their expertise with mine to give the children of Southwark the key skills they need to get them started on the journey to a healthy life.”

Each two-hour session will consist of light exercise, an exercise theory/nutrition session (including how to eat a balanced diet and understand food labels), plus one hour's cooking practice.

All sessions include popular games such as handball, football and touch rugby, as well as fun quizzes with prizes for top students (sports water bottles). At the end of the course, kids will be awarded a Graduation Certificate as proof of their new skills and hard work.

One of our past programmes, Food for Champions

Finally, Eric says, “The Fit Foodie program will centre on teaching kids how to enjoy cooking and showing them how to make simple great tasting recipes that they will be proud of. Each week we will cover an aspect of fitness such as cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, physical and mental benefits of exercise. The exercise section will not just be about playing games, it is also about teaching and showing the children why staying active is important, how it improves not just your body but you’re your mind and your confidence.”

The Fit Foodie programme is open to all children (5-11years) from local families who are interested in learning how to cook and taking part in physical activities. We will hold the sessions at the Copleston Centre in Peckham which is easily accessible using local bus routes. All children need to do is bring themselves and be keen to have fun!

The course is free to all children who are residents of Southwark.

Time: Saturdays 12:30-14:30

Venue: Copleston Centre, Copleston Road, Peckham SE15 4AN

Cost: Free

Starts: 25th January 2014 

Runs for: 6 weeks

To book: contact eric@theminicookingclub.org.uk | 07738 399 474

Charity Info

The Mini Cooking Club is a registered charity that runs educational cooking and nutrition workshops for children and families in Southwark. All classes are free to attend. We are staffed entirely by volunteers and funded by donations. For more information about us visit our website, or to donate to us visit our Charity Checkout page.

FunMeFit: Community Health

Based in Sheffield, FunMeFit combines health and fitness with playing together as a family as a way to achieve overall wellbeing. Founded by Kate Hill, mother of two, the organisation has been going for two years. It is fervently devoted to the idea that playing together strengthens families and is a fun way to get fit. Sheffield is full of green spaces, parks and woodland, so a website like this has been a long time coming.

There are many resources across the internet providing access to an array of activities, health and volunteering events, but FunMeFit brings all of these together under one roof. Targeted health and fitness resources mean that members can easily find what they’re looking for, including businesses that can help organise events and provide materials. FunMeFit is personable, easy to use and great for your health.

As they put it themselves: "FunMeFit is a community that brings people together from all over the community, whether a business, an individual, a charity or a group for the purpose of promoting healthy living, community work and physical activity.” FunMeFit is open to all. Not just limited to Sheffield, members are mainly from the UK but FunMeFit also has strong links with New York.

This innovative business can be broken down into two parts:

The Directory – a large database of services, businesses and organisations relevant to the health and fitness community. Join here.

The Community – Where members can freely create a profile for themselves and join an active network of health and fitness organisations and individuals. Join here.

Far too often we are bombarded with bad news and frightening stories, such as rising obesity levels and increased health problems from childhood, without focusing on ways to improve. FunMeFit, much like The Mini Cooking Club, responds to the need for positive health solutions. They do this by providing access to a network for health and fitness stakeholders, ranging from zumba teachers, to toddler climbing clubs, to play groups. Messy Mangoes is Kate’s own toddler group which encourages fun, interactive and creative play time.

FunMeFit’s primary aims are to:

1.    Encourage people to become more active

2.    Assist people in improving their wellbeing, developing skills and networking with other members of the community

3.    Get people to promote physical activity within the community and/or deliver such activities

We here at the Mini Cooking Club wholeheartedly support these goals. An added benefit of the website is helping young people and job-seekers discover opportunities to use their own skills as well as providing CV development, and enabling them to connect with important individuals, groups and businesses in the health community.

Join FunMeFit today and benefit from a whole host of services, most of them for free (upgrade to a premium account if you are a larger business). Upon joining, you will be freely promoted across social media, and can be part of the regular events held for members and non-members. Let’s all get fit and healthy together! 

See what the FunMeFit community has been up to here, and contact them on this form. 

By Catherine Heath