From David Hutchings, Exeter 382594, November 29, 2007

UPDATE UPDATE

The telephone number to call for today only is 08702 435 502

A HEALTHY eating project based at Bideford College will have the chance to win financial backing from ITV tonight.

Grow it Cook it Eat it will give people throughout North Devon the chance to develop community gardens and orchards producing fruit and vegetables.

The project is currently based at Bideford College and the North Devon Hospice and is through to the finals of ITV's People's Millions contest.

The project will be featured on ITV Westcountry tonight and people have until midnight to vote for it to win financial backing.

Bideford College Principal Veronica Matthews, said: "Grow it, Cook it, Eat it will mean that we can set up an area of the college where a number of students will get a genuine chance to take responsibility for growing something and then experience the pride of harvesting and sharing with others - not to mention appreciating the flavour of home grown food.

"We are sure this will also inspire them to grow things when they are adults and, in this way, we shall be able to influence their future choices and lifestyles.

"If we are successful in winning the lottery money we shall be buying tools and equipment, possibly even a rotivator which we shall also be able to lend out to other local groups.

"We have identified spaces within the college where we can start the project and we have already had one smallholder who has said that college students could use some land to do the sort of things that would not be easy to achieve on the college site.

"It would be great if as many people as possible felt able to support us by telephoning."

The college's Catering Manager, Rosie Broughton, said: "Our part in this project, to me, is a fantastic opportunity to give children a lasting life skill, to be able to grow your own food.

"While they learn to grow the fruit, vegetables and herbs they will begin to appreciate that these foods have a season in which they grow and flourish. I believe we are losing this knowledge as supermarkets obtain just about everything all year round from somewhere in the world.

"I would like to see more people looking to see where there food has come from before they decide to buy it. Buy local, buy in season and you buy fantastic fresh foods.

"I am really looking forward to the day when the children come into the kitchen having just picked their produce, prepare it, cook it and then sit down together and eat it for lunch. This will, I am sure be a perfect way to show the importance of fresh, local foods both for nutritional values and for the wonderful taste of it."

Stan Pyle, science teacher and environmental coordinator, said :"We have been running a land studies course at the college for three years now with no real land available for our students to cultivate. 

"The opportunity to develop a real community garden on the college site will improve the quality of the courses we are trying to run enormously. 

"The ability to grow, cook and eat some produce on site fits in perfectly with the college's current Science Specialist Status initiative which is focusing on sustainable living during this year and beyond."

Mike Newby, Bideford College's New College Coordinator, said: "The Grow it, Cook it, Eat it Project will be an excellent way to start now what we are planning for the future.

"We hope that by providing the understanding of how, when and where fresh fruit and vegetables are grown that both the practical involvement and understanding of the growing cycle into the kitchen and eventually to the dinner table will be an exciting and rewarding experience which will open up many educational opportunities and potential community links."

Grow it Cook it Eat it is the brainchild of the Tarka Project.

Tarka's communications director Baroness Sue Miller said "This project has been shortlisted by Big Lottery because it is an exciting project that will really benefit many groups throughout North Devon.

"But our communities will only win if people from North Devon vote for it."

The People's Millions ITV broadcast featuring Bideford College is tonight on Westcountry Live at 6pm.

The voting lines will open at 9am and close at midnight. You can only vote for the project on the day of broadcast.

ENDS