Feb
27
Ain’t half hot!
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It ain’t half hot Mum - but I love it.
Toddlers at a Blackpool nursery got a taste of the East when curry went on the menu.
Youngsters at the Safehands Green Start eco nursery at Blackpool Football Stadium, Bloomfield Road,,are learning all about different foods from around the world .And when mum Shanaz Rashid ,whose 3 year old son Mustafa attends the nursery , heard about it ,she immediately volunteered to cook up a special chicken curry on site for all the children- and the staff as well! 
“It was a fabulous day but very busy ”, said mother of two Shanaz, whose husband Muhammad runs the popular Al-Amirs restaurant in Talbot Road Blackpool.
”We first of all prepared a mild version made from real spices for the children and then a hotter one for the staff .In all, we served over 120 meals made in the kitchen at the nursery and the children thought it was wonderful.”
During the “Curry Club” the children all ticked into bowls of rice. naan bread ,with yoghurt dips ,vegetable sticks and side salads and even the babies in the nursery ,some as young as just seven months old ,ate the chicken curry pureed.
“All the chicken we prepared was Halal, bought with the spices from my favourite shop in Preston” said Shanaz, whose family originally came over to the UK from Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
The Curry Club event, followed a similar successful Chinese themed day during Chinese New Year and other similar food tastings are now being planned including Italian.
“We have children here whose parents come from all over the world and this is a great way of teaching the youngsters about different cultures and ways of life.” said nursery manager Kate Myers.” It’s all part of the learning process, helping the little ones learn about, smell taste, how different meals are produced, and where spices come from. We hope to make these special days part of the regular social calendar at Safehands.”
The Safehands eco nursery, which also has its own full time chef, actively promotes green issues, healthy eating and lifestyle in a fun-learning environment and is the only one of its kind in the region.
The super nursery, which caters for up to 120 children, is run by husband and wife team Gary and Stephanie Farrer, who set up the Safehands Network – one of the UK’s leading childcare providers -ten years ago.
Feb
27
Recycle scheme- load of rubbish!
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Council Recycle Scheme is load of rubbish say nursery bosses.
An eco nursery trying to teach toddlers to “go green” says Blackpool councils recycling arrangements are RUBBISH !
Youngsters at Safehands Green Start, at Blackpool soccer stadium ,in Bloomfield Road, are taught all about environmental issues and the importance of energy conservation from a very early age.
They even have their own special garden where they grow their own herbs and vegetables for the kitchens and where food waste from the nursery goes back as compost.
But despite repeated requests to Blackpool Council environmental department, nursery bosses say that not only can they not get any recycling bins for plastic, glass, paper and cardboard, but the council have told them that even if they had the bins they would not collect them.
“Its absolute nonsense”, said Safehands manager Kate Myers.” They claim that because we are a commercial business and not a household, then all they will collect is the two big-wheeled bins we have here .If the nursery was sited in a semi detached house up the road that presumably would meet the council criteria and be ok.
“We are dedicated to teaching the next generation about green matters and the importance of recycling as much as possible and yet we have to dispose of everything in black bin bags including all our glass and plastic. We have even offered to pay for recycling bins but even if we had them the council would not empty them and we would have to take recyclable rubbish to the nearest centre ourselves.
“I just find it unbelievable that when global warming and its effects are in the news everyday we are just ensuring with this sort of attitude that the young will inherit the mistakes of our generation. Its wrong.”
The youngsters do their best to recycle items within the nursery but then they all have to be bagged and binned for collection in the commercial waste wheelie bins just outside the main Blackpool FC stadium where the super nursery is based. The giant bins are, of course ,too high for youngsters to reach anyway.
“I feel really angry” said nursery worker Joanne Livesey of Squires Gate, whose young son Ellis ,aged 15 months ,attends the Safehands nursery.” We try to recycle everything at home but we cant do anything about it at work. It’s a complete nonsense”.
Safehands, established by husband and wife team Gary and Stephanie Farrer, ten years ago is the UKs leading provider of childcare crèche and babysitting services.
Feb
7
On the Menu!
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SUPERCHEF Jean Rhodes is encouraging tiny tots at a Blackpool nursery to go green.
Not only does she serve up healthy meals to her young “eco-tots”, she is also getting them growing their own veg and composting the waste. Farmer’s daughter Jean, who grew up in Yorkshire, believes that it’s never too early to teach children the importance of caring for their own health and their environment. And as a keen fan of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s mission to improve school meals, she is delighted to have the backing of her employers. Jean has been appointed head chef at Blackpool latest “super-nursery”, the Safehands Greenstart children’s nursery, based at Blackpool Football Club, where she plays an important role in encouraging little ones and their parents to promote healthy eating, improve their lifestyle, reduce litter and waste and save energy where possible. Nothing she serves in her kitchen is frozen and everything is prepared from fresh ingredients.
The 136 children at the “eco-nursery” - the first of its kind in the region - have their own outdoor garden where, in spring, they will start growing their own fruit and vegetables including apples, carrots, beans, potatoes and herbs. And when they harvest their produce, Jean will turn it into delicious dishes for them to eat.
“It’s as green as you can get”, said Jean who is a firm believer in good old fashioned tasty and wholesome food.
“We even encourage the children to save food waste which we collect every day and which they then put on the compost heap for spreading on the garden”.
Jean, who was taught to cook by her mum as a child, started work as a cook when her own children, Dominic, now 23, and Ashley, 21, were pupils at Newton Bluecoats School, Newton, near Kirkham.
“It was turkey twizzlers in those days, you didn’t like serving them up I don’t know why we couldn’t cook up healthy meals like we can now.
Thankfully, the Government has finally realised that you can serve up good wholesome food which encourages a healthy lifestyle in future. I’m a great fan of Jamie Oliver. He has made a huge difference to the school meals service by getting rubbish off the menus and promoting healthy eating. All the meals I serve here are nutritionally balanced. Parents know exactly what their child has eaten while they have been
here. I love to cook and am looking forward to using the veg the children grow - if there is any!”
Jean moved to the nursery from Kirkham Grammar School, where she was part-time
“I was also cleaning at Carr Hill and working as a night carer” said Jean, who lives at The Mede, Freckleton. Jean is well known in her local community as an Avon lady.
At Safehands, she cooks up meals every day for more than 90 toddlers and up to 12 adults and her menu includes Lancashire hotpot, beef casserole, home made soups and stews, tuna pasta bake, fish cakes, and cheese and tomato wraps. Salad sticks and fruit are served four times a day with water and sugar free Juice, Traditional puddings, with custard, are still a favourite and babies, from as young as four months old, are given the same tasty food as older children in puree form.
“I know youngsters are supposed to hate vegetables but they love them here”, said Jean. “It’s different somehow when they have grown it themselves.”
Jean says the nursery aims to keep the children well nourished and happy so they can feel even more safe and secure while at the same time learning about conservation and other environmental issues in a fun way.
The pioneering nursery, which has also introduced a webcam facility for parents to keep an eye on their children up to half an hour each day. is the latest venture from Safehands, which was set up 10 years ago by Fylde couple Gary and Stephanie Farrer. Stephanie said: “These are the adults of tomorrow and learning to care for the planet and Mother Earth is something we want to encourage with children and their parents and make it a very real and meaningful part of the life and ethos of the nursery.”
