Fishy demonstration for Longridge school children

School children from Longridge had a fishy start to the week, as they enjoyed a seafood talk in assembly from the executive chef of an award-winning food company.

Antony Shirley, of the Seafood Pub Company delivered a demonstration to children at St Wilfrids Primary School as part of seafood week celebrations.

Seafood Week started on Friday 7th October and the Seafood Pub Company is celebrating with various events across its ten sites in Lancashire.

Antony said: “This school year we have launched our Little Oysters Cookery Club and thought seafood week would be a fantastic way to get started.

“The children loved the demonstration and were really interactive, answering questions and giving plenty of feedback.

“There was a ripple of shock and surprise across the hall as I pulled out a huge monkfish, but they were really keen to learn more about the fish, where they came from and the benefits of incorporating seafood into the diet.”

The demonstration was in association with Seafish, the authority who organise National Seafood Week.

Chief executive of Seafish, Marcus Coleman said: “The school demonstration is one of a number of exciting things taking place across the UK during Seafood Week and we’d encourage everyone to get involved. The aim of Seafood Week is to get more people, to eat more seafood, more often and is being promoted by Fish is the Dish, our Seafish consumer campaign.”

At the end of the talk, Antony held a Q&A session with the children; two lucky children were awarded vouchers to spend at any of the Seafood Pub Company sites, including the Derby Arms in Longridge, the Assheton Arms in Downham and the Forest in Fence. “The children, and staff, absolutely loved the talk given by Antony; he was really professional and informative and they took away lots of new information about fish,” said Mr McHugh, headteacher at St Wilfrids Primary School.