A community-spirited Highbridge lady who delivers hot roast meals for needy locals has seen a surge of interest due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Fiona Cawley, who owns Jemima’s Quality Cakes and Catering Ltd, based in Highbridge, started deliveries of the nutritious, hot meals six months ago and is seeing rising demand in the current climate.
Fiona says the service is especially useful to elderly and vulnerable members of the Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge community who are socially isolating.
Fiona has been a qualified catering manager for many years, having previously been a schools catering manager in London before moving into the area and setting up her firm in 2011. She is a member of the Royal Society for Public Health.
Talking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, she says: “I love cooking and working with food – and with my expertise I can be a useful member of our community. I find it so rewarding to give back to those that need some help.”
“The idea for providing roast dinners started with providing a Christmas meal for a client who had lost her daughter that year and wanted to just spend as much time with her grandchildren and other daughter as possible. The Christmas day delivery service grew from that. Last Christmas, I cooked over 45 dinners on Christmas Day and Boxing Day for needy and homeless people.”
The service has become very popular and Fiona has set up a Roast delivery service on Sundays and Wednesdays, as well as a specialised meals service on Mondays to Fridays.
During the week people can order good quality meals from a traditional menu and she adds: “I can tailor meals to diets, preferences and choice. I personally talk through the options with clients to ensure they are receiving the right meals for them.”
“All meals need to be booked in advance as they are home-made and use fresh and local ingredients whenever possible. We also offer home-made desserts such as crumbles, steamed puddings and cakes.”
“They are not just for the elderly, but people struggling to find time to cook such as shift workers and young mums – the service is open to everyone. The Sunday Roast delivery service is open to all.”
Her area for deliveries covers Burnham and Highbridge plus villages further around such as Pawlett and Huntspill, subject to a minimum spend.
“Sometimes this meal is a person’s only hot meal of the day as they don’t want to cook for themselves or they are unable to,” she says.
Fiona can be contacted for bookings on 07796 500882.
