A record £20,000 was raised for the Cornish Pasty Community Fund during Cornish Pasty Week 2024, organisers have confirmed.
The money collected by the fund this year is going direct to local schools to purchase cookery equipment and ingredients, arrange food-related field trips, and provide ongoing cookery sessions.
Organised by the Cornish Pasty Association (CPA), the annual initiative saw Cornish pasty makers donate a proportion of their sales generated between 29 February and 3 March.
Some of the participating bakers also gave live demonstrations at two of the first schools to receive donations – Sandy Hill Academy near St Austell and Halwin Primary School near Helston. Over 130 pupils learnt on how to make, crimp and bake their own Cornish pasty.
“Students absolutely loved making pasties to celebrate Cornish Pasty Week and they learnt so much about where their food comes from and the importance of the great Cornish pasty,” said Halwin Primary School headteacher Ms. Carr.
“As a small school of just 63 pupils, the funds we have received from the Cornish Pasty Community Fund will enable us to take the children on field trips to learn about the food chain, from farm to plate.”
Sandy Hill Academy, meanwhile, will be using the money to buy new equipment and ingredients to run regular afterschool cookery clubs.
The CPA is a not-for-profit collective of makers of genuine Cornish pasties. In recent years, its members agreed that they wanted to do more to support the community of Cornwall and set about establishing the community fund.
“We wanted to show how much we value Cornwall and its people,” explained CPA chairman Jason Jobling. “Helping youngsters learn about food and, of course, pasty making, therefore felt like a natural and fitting way for us to do that. Others seem to agree, because we have been overwhelmed by support from the entire Cornish pasty community.
“Pasty shops up and down the country have made donations and some of our key suppliers have come on board as sponsors, including key sponsor Kepak, along with Conway Bailey, Hay Farm and ADM Milling,” added Jobling, noting that half of their sponsorship had gone straight into the community fund.
A total of 20 schools have already received support, spanning the entire county from Bude and Saltash to Penzance and the Isles of Scilly. Applications are still open for schools to apply for funding, which can be done via an online form on the CPA website.
Cornish Pasty Week raised £14,500 last year, which was used to purchase a van to help deliver redistributed food to marginalised families living in Cornwall.
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