Cookery Course Raises £900 for Special Needs Playgroup

Budding gourmet chefs found the perfect recipe for supporting a local special needs service on a cookery course at Solihull School.
The 12 parents and friends of the independent school honed their fine dining techniques in the company of a top chef – and the £900 the event raised in course fees was donated to the Green Lane Special Needs Playgroup in Shirley.
Graham Edwards, who has trained the likes of double Michelin starred chef Michael Caines and now runs the kitchen brigade at the University of Warwick, led the day-long course in “Taking the Mystique out of Fine Dining”.
The trainee chefs got the chance to prepare a main course of Loin of Lamb Wellington with redcurrant jus, garlic mash and wilted spinach, which they ate for lunch. The course also included a bagel-making demonstration and the making of starters and desserts that the participants could take home.
The event followed a non-uniform day at Solihull School in which pupils raised a further £1,600 for the Playgroup, which provides one-to-one care for special needs children aged one to four and respite for parents and carers.
Jan Mason, a Past President of Solihull School’s Parents’ Association and a Solihull Children’s Special Needs Association volunteer, said: “The course was brilliant and we were very grateful to Graham for giving his services free of charge – and to Solihull School for letting us use their teaching kitchens, also without charge, ensuring that the Playgroup would receive all the proceeds.”
Jo Brown, Chair of the Playgroup Committee, added: “I am delighted with the generous amount raised for our charity and would like to thank the pupils, parents, teachers and friends of Solihull School for their continuing support.”
Green Lane Playgroup, which has been run almost exclusively by volunteers for 45 years and receives no state grants, almost closed 12 months ago because of a lack of funding. It needs £24,000 a year to meet running costs.