A team of local food growers are inviting residents to join them for the annual FoodFriends Feast in Lancaster this month to celebrate the impact of FoodFriends members in supporting local food projects.
FoodFriends is a registered small-society lottery run by LESS (Lancaster District) CIC, providing monthly prizes to members, and raising funds to support local production of nature-friendly, organic food for the community.
Less CIC is part of the wider FoodFutures network and has operated the scheme since 2020.
So far, it has supported two sites in North Lancashire – The Plot – an outdoor growing site on an existing organic farm, and an indoor growing site on White Lund Industrial Estate in Morecambe.
Both sites form the FarmStart training centre and since January 2021 the Plot has been training an annual cohort of FarmStarters.
However, with the purchase of Summerhouse Community Farm last year, The Plot team is excited to re-locate and be part of a community-inspired vision for food production.
The Feast will be a chance for people to find out more about plans for the future as well as a celebration of all that has been achieved so far.
Ellen Pearce, coordinator at The Plot, said: “The FoodFriends scheme was set up to provide an independent source of funding for projects such as these so that they are not reliant on grant funding.
“It was a way of enabling local residents passionate about local food and bringing back food production to our district to enable them to support the set up of this sort of project.”
She added: “As we say goodbye to Old Holly Farm – the place where it all started, the Plot team are looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities ahead. We’re delighted to invite local residents along to join us over a delicious meal to find out more.”
There are currently around 150 people signed up to the scheme, and LESS are looking for 350 new members to help ensure that the Plot is financially stable in the longer term.
The feast on Thursday 29th January will be hosted at The Friends Meeting House, Meeting House Lane in Lancaster, from 6.15pm.
Tickets are free and everyone is welcome but spaces must be booked in advance.
Donations would be gratefully received to help cover the cost of the meal.
To reserve a space visit the FoodFutures website at https://foodfutures.org.uk/events/foodfriends-winter-feast
