School offers food for thought

An Italian cook has established a business at her local

school to teach adults about her native food and culture in a deal facilitated

by North Wiltshire Economic Partnership.

The partnership has been helping St John's school in

Marlborough - which moved into new £26.5 million buildings in December - to

cement relationships with the business community.

St John's is the first comprehensive in the UK to be

built without the use of public funds. Most of the cost of building the college

was funded by the sale of its old site for housing development.

Facilities include state-of-the-art conference

facilities, theatre, dance studio, sports centre and performing arts centre,

all of which are an excellent venue for business training. All are available

for community hire after school hours and during weekends and holidays.

And when experienced Italian cook Elisabetta Genovino,

who runs Il Paniere Di Edesia, was looking for facilities from which to operate

her Italian cookery courses, partnership manager Colette Mallon introduced her

to the school's business director Barry Worth, and a deal was soon struck.

Elisabetta's courses offer the chance to learn about

Italian cuisine, including regional dishes from the full-flavoured north to the

spicy south. The course also explores Italian culture through food, including

etiquette and terminology.

The all-day courses will run on Sunday, May 9; Sunday,

May 16; Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23, and courses cost £95 per day.

For ongoing course dates and more information visit

www.edesiacookeryschool.co.uk

Mr Worth said: "The cookery school is an excellent

example of the way businesses can use the facilities at the school.

"The whole school has been designed with the

community in mind and it's a genuine desire of ours to have people using the

building."

Members of the business community will have a chance to

view the facilities firsthand during a North Wiltshire Economic Partnership

networking breakfast, which will be held at the school on Tuesday, April 27

from 8am.

Attendance

costs £7.50 per delegate, with all proceeds going to the school. Places are

limited to 30 and pre-booking is required. To book your place contact Davina

Nicholls at St John's School on 01672 519532 or email

dnicholls@stjohns.wilts.sch.uk before Tuesday, April 20.