'People are still struggling to eat': How a single mother who once struggled to feed herself has become a 'food champion'

A single mother who once struggled to feed herself is now teaching the classes she once took to make a better, healthier life for her family.

Sharron Forsyth, 54, teaches ‘Confidence to Cook’ classes in Aberdeen, where low-income families and people with mental health problems learn the basics of cooking and nutrition.

Such has been her contribution that Ms Forsyth has been nominated in the ‘volunteer of the year’ category for Scotland’s Health Awards 2024, run in partnership with The Scotsman, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, for her work as a “food champion”.

Sharron Forsyth has been working as a food champion, and helping teach others how to cook for themselves and eat a healthy diet

“People are still struggling to eat,” Ms Forsyth said. “The reason I started Confidence to Cook was because I run a food bank here.

“A lot of people didn’t know what to do with the food that’s in here, because they were used to ready meals. As a single mum, I struggled most of the time to feed myself and my son. I used to skip meals so he could eat properly. I want to stop others from having to do that.

“A lot of older people are having to choose between heating and eating, and I know how that feels because I was in that position myself. I did a Confidence to Cook course 20 years ago and I still use some of those recipes to this day.”

The 2024 Health Awards will celebrate the extraordinary achievements of those individuals and teams who go above and beyond to deliver compassionate, high-quality health and social care to the people of Scotland.

Sharron Forsyth, 54, teaches ‘Confidence to Cook’ classes in Aberdeen

“Early intervention and prevention, and reducing diet-related health inequalities are key priorities for the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP)," said NHS Grampian’s Nonye Agbaza, who nominated Ms Forsyth for the award.

“The Food Champions are individuals or community groups or organisations who are passionate about supporting others to learn about healthy foods. They are trained and supported through our Health Improvement Fund (Food in Focus) to support people within their community by delivering the NHS Grampian healthy eating resource Confidence to Cook (C2C).

“Food Champions, on completion of their training, are expected to deliver a minimum of two blocks of six weeks healthy eating classes in their community in a year.”

Ms Forsyth, who teaches the classes at the Cairncry Community Centre in Aberdeen, said when people first turn up, they have just been “eating biscuits and crisps and stuff at home, because they don’t have the money for proper meals”.

“We get funding for £10 per person, to get them the ingredients for the recipes we’ve just taught them,” she said.

Of the area surrounding the community centre, Ms Forsyth added: “There’s a lot of high rises, a lot of older people, a lot of displaced families. There’s poverty around the area. It used to be an affluent area, but is now one of the poorest areas in the country.”

The volunteer is now starting a family course after the summer holidays, for parents and children. “I’m hoping people will come back and do a monthly thing, to cook together and meet up, and to eventually become Food Champions themselves,” she said.

Details of how to submit a nomination across 16 categories can be found at https://www.scotlandshealthawards.co.uk/.