A brand new breakfast club launched at Shelley Primary School, Ongar on Monday 15th October. Twenty five hungry young students celebrated the first Gracelands Breakfast Club in partnership with Greggs bakery which means there are no extra costs for parents.

As a corporate partner of the BBC Children in Need Appeal, last year raising over £1 million, Greggs plc brought along cartoon characters Pudsey Bear and their own charity champion, Hope, to get the breakfast celebrations off to a great start.

The Chipping Ongar school will host the breakfast club in the school hall with breakfast consisting of toast, cereal, yoghurt and fruit all served up by parents, grandparents and volunteers from the school. Local church St Martins is sending volunteers one day a week and a member of staff has volunteered to come in early each morning to help. The breakfast club is set to open five mornings each week from 08.15 to 08.50 and all bakery produce will be supplied by Greggs Brentwood branch.

Lesley Lewis, Head teacher at Shelley School said “We are thrilled to be the first Primary School breakfast club in Epping Forest supported by Gracelands and Greggs. We know this is going to give our young people a great start to their day and the number signing up means they really want to have breakfast together.”

Gracelands Complete Maintenance Services Ltd, based in the Armitage Business Centre, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Herts has got together with the Greggs Foundation in a local community project that will benefit both hungry tums and busy Mums.

Gracelands provides gas, heating and electrical maintenance services for local authorities, social housing associations, schools, commerical organisations and private domestic customers. It actively supports local schools and colleges by providing workplacement opportunities that can lead to offers of apprenticeships.

Deniz Mustafa, Manager at the company, and father of a young daughter said “We are a family business and our role within the local community is extremely important to us. We believe breakfast clubs are a great idea and we all know that quality food at the right time makes for better concentration throughout the day. We are delighted to pilot this new project in partnership with Greggs Foundation.”

The partnership will provide funding, equipment and supplies for the new breakfast club for the next three years. This means Greggs and its partners currently support 196 Breakfast Clubs nationwide providing more than 9,000 children with a free breakfast every school day sometimes in areas of social deprivation.

Greggs Foundation Manager Jackie Crombie said: “Greggs are delighted to be working in partnership with Gracelands to open the first breakfast club in Epping Forest. What makes this scheme unique is that we provide a free breakfast, it’s open to all, and parent volunteers help to run the clubs, keeping the costs down and bringing the school closer to the local community.

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