Morley store funds primary school kitchen upgrade

Nisa Local Morley Service Station has donated over £5,500 following a plea from Morley Victoria Primary School in Leeds for a kitchen upgrade and other essentials.

The Brookfield Group, store owners, has stepped in to provide the full funding through Nisa’s Making a Difference Locally (MADL) charity to make the new kitchen a reality for the school.

Morley Victoria Primary have a room that is used as a space by the children for their cooking lessons. It is used by over 470 pupils at some point in their time at Morley Victoria.

The ovens regularly caused challenges, the flooring needed replacing, and the sideboards and surfaces were well overdue a refurbishment. The school had ambitions for a modern and inspiring place for the children to have their lessons, as well as bringing in updated technology so teachers can demonstrate cooking and baking methods in a more accessible way.

“The school were absolutely thrilled to have been supported through Brookfield Retail Ltd,” Kelly Moore, Morley Victoria Primary School’s business manager, said.

“This is a really big project and as you will no doubt be aware; all schools are very short of funds right now for the ‘nice things’ and are having to focus very much on the essentials.

“The donation has helped us to transform the space and make it a really special area that the children love going to. We know our cooking lessons are a huge hit with the children and the refurbishment will make a huge impact for hundreds of pupils in the future. We know our cooking lessons are a huge hit with the children and parents – and the area makes a huge difference to our SEN cohort; there are some brilliant creations that come out of there!”

The Brookfield Group has also donated an additional £1,500 through the business to fund football kits for the school.

MADL charity allows Nisa-affiliated retailers to support local causes that matter to them with charitable donations. Every time a customer purchases an item from the Co-op or Heritage own brand ranges in-store, a percentage is added to the store’s charity fund, to be donated to a local good cause.

Ismail Patel, of The Brookfield Group, said: “We are happy to contribute to Morley Victoria Primary School – especially in these current difficult times with the cost of living rising. We would like to thank our customers for their continued support through the purchases of own brand products in our stores, as without their support these community donations would not be possible.”

Kate Carroll, head of Charity at Nisa, added: “Donations like this again go to demonstrate what a big impact MADL can have in the community and I’m delighted Shell Morley Service Station have chosen to get involved in a fantastic project.

“The children of Morley Victoria Primary School are going to benefit from a fantastic new space for cooking lessons and that is really important for their learning and development at a young age. Perhaps the new kitchen will inspire the next Marco Pierre White from Leeds!”