AFC Bournemouth players paid a special visit to Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School today to tuck into the school’s first hot meal from the hub kitchen which opened this week. The kitchen, which opened in part of the former Townsend School site, has now started producing and delivering hot, nutritionally balanced school meals to primary schools across Bournemouth. This is a big cultural change for the schools as they have previously only served cold meals to children in a classroom. Children at Corpus Christi Catholic School were surprised when the Cherries arrived to share their lunch. The players tucked into their hot meal in the school dining room and chatted to the children about the importance of healthy eating. Councillor Malcolm Davies, Cabinet Member for Children & Families Services, said: “Football players understand how important food can be for an active lifestyle so it was fantastic that the Cherries could come down to the school and talk to the children.” He continued: “The hub kitchen greatly improves the school meal offering across Bournemouth by allowing children to enjoy a hot meal, which is particularly important during the cold, winter months.” The hot school meal service will be phased in gradually over the next four months and by the end of January 2009 it will be producing and delivering approximately 2000 fresh, hot meals each day to primary school children at 22 schools. This initiative, in addition to a number of school kitchen refits means that all Bournemouth primary schools will be able to provide hot meals to children in a dining room environment. Steve Cuss, from AFC Bournemouth’s Football in the Community said: “We really enjoyed having lunch with the kids at Corpus Christi Primary. A hot, nutritionally balanced meal is important for an energetic lifestyle so it’s great news that the school is now able to offer this to children, and that soon all primary schools in Bournemouth will be doing the same.” | 
