A student-led social enterprise which tackles loneliness amongst younger and older generations through community cooking is setting up shop in Hackney this week.
Grandma’s Soup hosted its first cooking session in the Whitmore Community Centre in Hoxton on 6 November, with plans to continue every Friday at this location.
Since launching in Islington earlier this year, the organisation has also set up regular events in Oxford and Sheffield, with the Hoxton site marking the fourth location where Grandma’s Soup is in operation.
The charity’s goal is to alleviate loneliness in the UK by building a self-sustaining community of young and older people who connect through cooking. Whilst they are initially set up by UK Director Hannah Lim, the cooking sessions are entirely run by student volunteers.
Jools Goedegebuure, project lead of the Hackney sessions, and law student at King’s College London said “Volunteering here is so worth all the hard work. I love meeting all the people and hearing their stories, and the practical experience I get is just great.”
The 2024 NHS Health Survey for England found that whilst 15% of those aged 65 to 74 reported feeling lonely at least some of the time, this figure was almost double [29%] among those aged 16 to 24.
“It goes both ways” said Jools, “the students get just as much out of the sessions as the older people. Especially international students who miss their grandmas.”
Despite all their hard work however, according to some of the attendees there is still room to improve.
“I never eat soup without chicken. I’ll bring my own ingredients next time and show them some recipes.” said Princess, one of the elderly participants of the launch event.
To find out more about Grandma’s Soup, visit: https://grandmassoup.co.uk/
And if you’re interested in attending the event in Hackney, visit their Facebook page
