Children to celebrate Bicentenary of Britain’s favourite cooking apple
10 March 2009 |
| SEEDA Chairman Jim Brathwaite celebrates the Bramley bicentenary with a celebratory tree planting with the school council children at St Catherine’s School. |
West Sussex school children celebrated the bi-centenary of Britain’s favourite cooking apple, the Bramley, this week.
Pupils at St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, Littlehampton welcomed SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) chairman Jim Brathwaite CBE to plant a Bramley apple tree in the school garden last Monday.
The tree-planting not only marked the two hundredth anniversary of the Bramley but it also signified the end of the educational Year of Food and Farming initiative (now known as Think Food and Farming). The programme received support from SEEDA in the South East of England. Following the planting, pupils and teachers tucked into 180 Bramley apple pies, baked by Quiche Supreme of Worthing.
A plaque to commemorate the occasion was presented to head teacher Gill Howell by Shaun Leavey OBE, chairman of the South East sustainable farming and food delivery board which oversees the Think Food and Farming campaign.
Mr Leavey said: "The Think Food and Farming initiative aims to reconnect pupils with the origins of their food and the simple act of planting an apple tree can, in time, open the door to a whole range of exciting educational activities.
"This school is in the process of building a prayer garden and improving its productive garden - there are also plans to construct a new school kitchen. Now generations of pupils can look forward to harvesting and cooking delicious Bramley apples for years to come, while learning about the history of the Bramley and its importance as a commercial crop in South East England."
The Think Food and Farming campaign builds on the legacy of the Year of Food and Farming. The Year ran from September 2007 to July 2008 and promoted healthy living by offering young people direct experience of the countryside, farming and food. In the South East of England, more than 10,000 pupils visited farms and horticultural units as a direct result of the initiative.
For further details please contact:
Gillian van der Meer, Event Manager, Think Food and Farming
Tel: 01323 832578
For more information please contact our press office
Tel: 01483 470155
