50 invited guests attended the special opening at The Barn, Kit Hill Crescent, Barne Barton, Plymouth which included the Lord Mayor and Deputy Mayoress of Plymouth. The Lord Mayor praised the work done by 'The Prevention Team' in Plymouth and thanked the Wooden Spoon Devon for not only their financial support of the project but also the project management of it from committee member Colin Perry. Guests were treated to a delicious lunch prepared with the help of our Royal Marines who are huge supporters of Wooden Spoon Team Devon.

The Devon region of the Wooden Spoon will be investing its ONE MILLIONETH pound this year to children in Devon who need assistance with social, physical or psychological disadvantage. It has supported 18 projects to date during its 10 years of fundraising in Devon.

Byl Rice of 'Teen Cuisine' which is part of The Prevention Team of the Plymouth Youth Offending Service who work with particularly disadvantaged young people who often have chaotic life styles and exhibit anti-social behaviour spoke at length about their work.
"Teen Cuisine provides a three week programme for young people who are school refusers, or whose behaviour is such that they are about to be or are excluded from school.

The programme looks to overcome the barriers to learning and teaches life skills. One of the significant causes in poor behaviour is inadequate diet and the inability to work as part of a group. Teen cuisine addresses both of these issues. Most of the young people who have been through the programme, 600 in the last year, are hungry and have a very poor diet so providing them with the support and knowledge to develop their skills has for many young people been life changing."

The facilities at Teen Cuisine previously were poor to the point of being a health and safety hazard are now replaced by the new kitchen that is of a very high standard, but, still looks like a domestic kitchen, it provides the children with proud ownership of facilities they can treat as their own.

Wooden Spoon Plymouth committee member, ex-Plymouth Albion captain and now a Plymouth School headmaster, Kevin Norris, praised the work of 'Teen Cuisine' and sees the programme work from the school perspective where the children who fail to engage with their school go on the programme and then re-enter school permanently and effectively, "The success rate statistics are phenomenal", he said, 'Byl and her team are heroes'.

Teen cuisine helps young people know how to use the kitchen in preparing a healthy meal, they work as a team and make new friends whilst sharing the food that they have prepared as their evening meal. Teen Cuisine is now, with as many as 70 volunteers, running an open house for young people in the area who can enjoy using the facilities and learn healthy eating knowledge and enjoy the experience of dining together experiencing that eating well in a group is a real pleasure.

Byl Rice finished the presentation by saying "None of this would have been possible without the support from Wooden Spoon who not only provided funding but importantly project managed the installation. Thank you very much from the children of Plymouth."