Meet Linda – Manager, Coleshill Centre
My name is Linda Morgans, I am 51 years old. My hobbies include walking my dogs, running, triathlons, just any kind of fitness really. Because I’m so active my other favourite pastime is eating and drinking.
I had two children when I was very young, so I had to learn to cook quite quickly. On my first Christmas in Llanelli, my husband's father bought me a Marguerite Pattern cookbook and told me to make sure I looked after his son, and that book became my bible. I still have it now and the pages are all discoloured and covered in food. We like to eat a range of food, and we do love a bit of spice.
I have never done anything like this before; my only learning of food/cooking is self-taught. I have always been a bit naïve as to where my food comes from, I had never thought about food being seasonal, I always went to the supermarket and bought what I wanted, when I wanted it. After attending the food leadership, it gave me an understanding of the impact of food stuff, and I was amazed at far food travels. I started to think about buying food that was more sustainable and locally grown and more suitable to the season.
I really enjoyed the cooking project with the service users, it made me a lot happier when letting the individuals I work with use sharp knives independently. With the right guidance and support the individuals were a lot more capable than I had realised/given the opportunity to be, due to me being over cautious. The project has given us the confidence to move forward with the cooking sessions at Coleshill, and ask for a more industrial style kitchen, which we have done, it is installed and is being used daily every morning and afternoon!
