Springwell Silver Come Dine with Me

Who took part?

The Trolley Dollies girls youth group and The Springwell Tenants and Residents Association, both based at the Springwell Community Centre; High Fell Children’s Centre, and V-involved, a Gateshead Voluntary Organisations Council project.

Why?

  • To raise awareness of and recruit volunteers for the new community centre and facilities.
  • To encourage the embedding of intergenerational work and meaningful interaction at Springwell Community Centre.
  • To improve the perception of younger people by older people on the Springwell Estate.
  • To promote healthy eating across the generations and help address some of the poor health issues of the area amongst all ages.

What took place?

The community centre holds an annual Christmas meal that is served to the older residents of the Springwell Estate and 2010 marked its 25th anniversary. All members of the community centre were keen to make this year an extra special experience for the older generation so the groups worked alongside artist Alison Ashton to transform the community centre into a silver themed elaborately dressed dining room via craft and theatrical design workshops creating table decorations and backdrops for the final Soul Soup café event. The decorations were used for the older residents’ annual Christmas meal the following week.

Chef Sam Storey worked with the two groups to create one silver inspired soup, Sausage and Bean, and two fast food inspired healthy alternative soups, Thai Sweet Potato and Chinese Chicken Noodle. These were served at the final café event, along with homemade flapjack.   

Soul Soup Café Event

Using a Come Dine With Me theme inspired by the television programme, family and friends of the two groups and the wider community were invited to attend the final Soul Soup café event, to sample all three soups and vote for their favourite. Over 30 members of the community attended the evening and were amazed at the transformation the centre had undertaken and hugely impressed with the efforts of both groups working together to provide such a special event for the residents of the Springwell Estate.

P.S. the Chinese Chicken Noodle soup won!

Find Out More:

Springwell Community Centre

www.springwellcentres.co.uk

V-involved, Gateshead Voluntary Organisations Council

www.gvoc.org.uk/vinvolvedteamgateshead

Link to main Soul Soup page