YOUNGSTERS have been enjoying an unusual donation from a local business — a gravel kitchen.

Materials for the kitchen at St Matthews CE Primary School in Halliwell were supplied by managing director Sean Chadwick at SC Chadwick’s Recycling, who stepped in after the school realised the high cost of a commercially purchased unit would be out of reach.

Andrea Bradshaw, a teaching assistant for the reception class, said: “Schools are being encouraged to install a mud or a gravel kitchen as they help with all areas of learning.

"I was showing my husband how expensive the catalogue models were, and he offered to obtain the materials we needed from Mr Chadwick, and then build it himself.”

The reception class at the Kentford Road school are already taking advantage of the kitchen.

Mrs Bradshaw said: “It’s helping them with a lot of different things.

“They’ve been learning about weight in a hands-on way.”