Building long-term resilience and empowering local people with the skills they need to live their best lives.
Our cookery classes provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds (and cooking abilities) to develop an understanding of essential cooking skills, empowering them to lead more independent, fulfilling and sustainable lives.
Our classes are open to the whole community, but we prioritise those with little or no cooking ability, who might lack confidence in the kitchen. Many of these individuals have learning disabilities, or have faced ongoing mental health challenges. Often, they come to us through referrals from local social care and welfare organisations, and other times they are clients under our own services.
Through these free weekly sessions, we focus on building foundational cooking knowledge that participants can expand over time. Starting with basic skills, we introduce essential techniques like knife skills and food hygiene and safety practices. We also cover practical topics like cooking on a budget, sustainability, and making healthy and nutritious choices within financial constraints. Our sessions highlight simple, adaptable techniques that can elevate any meal, aiming to develop transferable skills that can be applied beyond our lessons. We aim to support our clients to build long-term resilience, helping them in leading healthier, more sustainable and independent lives. They also provide people with immense confidence, giving them the tools to manage their own wellbeing and enjoy the process of cooking.
Our classes run in 8-week sessions, this usually consists of a lesson every Thursday morning, for the duration of that period. To find out more about current dates, get in touch with us using our contact page.
The classes are open to everyone, of any ability and background.
No, the aim of our cookery classes is to allow everyone an equal access to knowledge about cooking – they are free.
You will need to get into contact with us to get enrolled for the classes.
The Swan and Helmet Pub,
65-67 Grove Road,
Northampton
NN1 3LJ
Our Digital Inclusion Sessions are designed to empower people, many of whom are older adults with limited digital literacy, to confidently and safely navigate technology and the internet. Our priority is to build people’s confidence, supporting them to feel more comfortable using technology, and better equipped to handle everyday tasks online without risk.
Held alongside our social clubs, these sessions provide hands-on guidance to build essential digital skills, from setting up and managing social media profiles or sending emails, to online shopping. Participants learn to use platforms like Livvi and NHS Online Services, which offer more convenient and practical ways to access their healthcare services. We also cover online banking, internet security and common scams that people should always look out for. A lack of digital skills can leave many people vulnerable to scams, data breaches, or unintentionally compromising their security. These sessions focus on building both practical skills, and awareness on safe online practices. The classes also open up new ways for our clients to connect with friends and family and experience the benefits of social media, which many of them are unaware of prior to the sessions. This has immense benefits in reducing social isolation, something which many of these clients face.
We provide weekly transport services for our social club members who may otherwise struggle to reach us, read more here!
Do you or someone you know need help and support to get through a difficult time? We know that asking for help is not easy, just complete our contact form and we’ll be in touch with more on how we can help.
The McCarthy-Dixon Foundation
67 Grove Rd
Northampton
NN1 3LJ
Registered Charity Number: 1190255
