First grants paid under Building Resilience And Nutrition fund

22 Apr 2025

The first grants have been paid under a scheme set up in West Suffolk to reduce food poverty, improve health and nutrition and cut food waste.

But community groups, charities, voluntary organisations, faith groups and social enterprises can still apply to the Building Resilience And Nutrition (BRAN) fund which was launched earlier this year.

The fund was set up to support food projects that are working to:

• lift people out of food poverty such as through additional support to help people improve their finance
• give people increased confidence and skills such as growing their own food or making low cost healthy and nutritious meals
• connect with local producers and food retailers to share food and reduce food waste
• ensure the resilience of food projects by developing or expanding their existing offer and upskilling volunteers.

It has been created from £90,000 given by Suffolk Public Sector Leaders and is being delivered by West Suffolk Council in partnership with Community Action Suffolk and Suffolk County Council.

Now the first grants have been paid out.

In Bury St Edmunds, the Gatehouse Food Ladder by Gatehouse Caring is backed with a £9,500 BRAN grant to improve people’s knowledge and skills in cooking healthy and nutritious foods on a budget to help support themselves out of food poverty.

Headway Suffolk also in Bury St Edmunds is to receive £5,457 for an allotment it will use to help people with a brain injury or neurological condition learn how to grow their own fruit and vegetables and how to cook them in an air fryer.

In Cavenham, the Big Community Grow will see 100 households participate in a project to grow their own food in their gardens. The project by Cavenham Village Green Ltd and backed with £1,250 from BRAN, will include community coffee morning where growers can share skills and swap seeds while they will also be encouraged to share their produce with other people in the village, strengthening community links.

Great Barton based Revive Suffolk Community Interest Company (CIC) has received £6,300 for its Soil to Supplier project, increasing people’s skills and confidence in growing and cooking nutritious food. The project will develop a network of 100 volunteer growers and run alongside workshops to help people grow, harvest and cook together, while soil and seeds will also be given to people attending a community supper.

The Friend Cookery Club run by The Befriending Scheme in Haverhill has received a £5,000 grant for a project that will help people with learning difficulties become more independent through teaching them cooking and food budgeting skills. It will also help participants better understand how food is grown and will work with supermarkets to reduce food waste.

And REACH Community Projects in Haverhill has been given a £5,800 BRAN grant for its Food and Warmth at Welcome Spaces initiative providing food alongside other community support including work to help people manage finances and debt.

The Newmarket Community Pantry Shop which works to try to support people out of food poverty is to receive £2,050 for fridges and freezers which will help it to extend the range and quality of food it provides, including fresh, nutritious, and culturally appropriate options.

West Suffolk Council has also supported three other projects that applied to BRAN with funds from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Revive Suffolk has been given an additional £9,380 for its nature’s larder project, growing and picking fruit with community groups including the HoneyPot Café for people with dementia, the SEND café and Still Good Food which all run at Freedom Church in Great Barton. It will also run eight outdoor cooking workshops using the fruit to make foods including cordials, jams, chutneys and preserve.

And Abbeycroft has been given £22,503.93 for in school and after school family park cooking sessions.

The first is a new initiative and will see Abbeycroft work with school staff to teach cooking to families. The 12-session programme across nine West Suffolk schools will aim to give families the confidence and skills to cook healthy food on a budget.

Abbeycroft already run after school sessions at 20 schools in West Suffolk - the UKSPF funding will be used to double that to 40 schools teaching cookery skills to families who are then given a box of ingredients and recipes to make five meals for four people. It will also include information designed to reduce food waste and grow their own food at home.

Cllr Donna Higgins, Cabinet Member for Families and Communities at West Suffolk Council said: “Whether it’s working to try to help people out of food poverty, empowering people with the confidence and skills to grow food or cook nutritious meals, and reducing food waste, all of these projects that we are supporting through BRAN and through our allocation of UKSPF will all benefit vulnerable people and families in our communities.

“There’s still BRAN funds available and I would urge community groups, charities, voluntary organisations, faith groups and social enterprises with food related projects in West Suffolk to apply.”

Cllr Philip Faircloth-Mutton, Suffolk County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Communities and Equality, said: “Suffolk County Council is pleased to support the BRAN fund, which is already making a real difference across our communities. I encourage more groups to apply and help build local resilience around food and nutrition.”

To find out more or apply for BRAN contact West Suffolk Community Food Partnership officer Elizabeth Evans from Community Action Suffolk at Elizabeth.evans@communityactionsuffolk.org.uk

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