Students on the Skills for Independent Living (SIL)course at Deeside College have been doing their bit to ensure college staff help the environment by cutting down on their food miles.

Under the guidance of the Rural Regeneration Unit (RRU), tutor Pam Nield and students have set up a Food Co-op Club which runs every Wednesday morning.

Fresh vegetables, fruit and salad, much of it local, are delivered from Huson’s Farm Produce to the students’ work room where the team of students and staff bag up all the goodies and deliver them to their eager customers. Running like a mini-enterprise, the students play a vital role in collecting orders, payments, bag packing and delivery.

The RRU is a social enterprise governed by an independent Board. The organisation has formed community food co-operatives across the European Union and currently manage over 230.

Where possible the RRU link the co-ops to local growers or suppliers. In Wales the organisation work with the Welsh Assembly Government and are also promoting the Health Challenge Wales campaign.

Karen Robertson, an RRU Food Development Worker based in Flintshire who is working with the students, said: “There are 47 Food Co-ops across North East Wales and I’m delighted the SIL students at Deeside College are taking part in the scheme. They have got off to a flying start!”