GOOD honest cooking has earned the founders of a community kitchen in Gargrave the title of Cook of the Year in the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

Former nurses, Carys Roberts and Carol Mercer, set up Neville’s Kitchen in 2016, a lunch club at the community centre in Neville Road. Their aim was to help elderly Yorkshire Housing residents who were not eating well and were socially isolated.

The club is a now popular fixture of the community with up to 22 people attending at a time. Everyone over 50 is welcome and it is open to volunteers and different support groups.

Carys and Carol said they were very proud to win the award. “It came completely out of the blue, so it’s nice to be recognised for something we really love. We love cooking good English food like roast beef, chicken and potatoes, everything your mum used to make,” said Carys.

Carol added: “It’s great to have won this award for our cooking at Neville’s Kitchen. We have a lovely relaxed atmosphere here, it isn’t only about lunch because people stay and play card games. It is so lovely to see it because you feel like you have done something good.”

And, James Haigh, community investment manager at Yorkshire Housing said: “Carol and Carys cook great food and have done so much good work at Neville’s Kitchen to support the community in Gargrave. They really deserved to win the award.”