Strong support for egg campaign

EGG campaign has got off to a flying start with a meeting of enthusiastic hen keepers.
Part of Incredible Edible Todmorden's vision is that Todmorden will become self sufficient in terms of its egg supply in the near future and to further this aim a meeting was held at the Bear Cafe last week for anyone interested in keeping hens.

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ncredible Edible has estimated that Todmorden needs about 3,000 eggs a week to be produced locally to ensure that every egg is a Todmorden egg.

Pauline Mullarkey, of Incredible Edible, said that during the meeting, attended by over 20 people with a wide range of experiences in hen rearing, the excitement for the vision was tangible with a growing belief that this was an achievable aim.

Of the people at the meeting, Pauline said: "Some people keep a few hens and use the eggs for their own consumption, some people had a larger number of hens and were selling their eggs on a farm gate basis. Other people there didn't keep hens but were interested in the idea and were left in no doubt that it would be a great idea. One woman was able to inform the group of a battery hen rescue charity she is involved in and someone else was able to address the group with vast knowledge about keeping a large number of hens.

"Those people who already have knowledge and experience of keeping hens were more than willing to offer their support and advice to people who may never have kept hens before and would therefore help give people in the town the confidence they might need to have a go and become part of this wonderful plan."

The next step will be looking at the possibility of setting up a Local Egg Co-Operative which could source local eggs from around the town and get them distributed to the local shops, market and supermarkets.

Pauline said this is one of the many strands in terms of local food production and Incredible Edible Todmorden is now keen to see action on the ground in the town. Anyone interested can email on nick_pauline@tiscali.co.uk or ask to speak to Pam Warhurst at The Bear Cafe, Rochdale Road, Todmorden.