West Berkshire Council revives holiday free school meals programme

West Berkshire Council has announced the return of a programme to provide eligible children and youths with free school meals over the Christmas holidays.

The Holiday and Food Activity Programme was rolled out over Easter and summer this year, and is being enabled by funding from central government.

In addition to the provision of nutritious meals, the scheme engages users in a variety of activities to keep them active and healthy while schools are out.

In all, 500 places are being made available for the activities scheme, which runs between December 20 and December 30.

Organisers will utilise 13 sites, including the Newbury, Hungerford and Lambourn Hubs, to deliver the programme.

To this end, they will collaborate with a variety of partners, including Sport in Mind and Hungerford Youth and Community Centre.

The council's executive member for education, children and young people, Dominic Boeck, said: "We're delighted to be offering HAF over the Christmas break.

"The programme is going from strength to strength and offering a wide range of activities to even more children and young people."