THE catering company that feeds Skipton's primary school children has rescued a hot meal service for the town's older population.

Having read a last ditch plea in the Craven Herald for cooks to save the 50-year-old meals on wheels scheme, Initial Catering's operations manager Liz Burnikell immediately got on the phone to offer her help.

The lifeline service, which provides freshly cooked hot meals to some of the town's vulnerable residents, was due to fold this week unless organisers' prayers were answered.

Mrs Burnikell said: "It seemed a perfectly logical thing to do. We already provide meals for a high risk group, children. We are only too happy to do it."

The cooks charged with the responsibility of providing an additional 50 meals on a Monday and Thursday are Naomi Roberts and Joanne Thornton at St Stephen's School. Their work is overseen by manager Angela Hall.

"The ladies at St Stephen's are extremely capable of dealing with change. In school meals they are used to expecting the unexpected," said Mrs Burnikell.

She added that the meals on wheels food would be traditional English fare and not the same platters given to the children.

The Meals on Wheels food will be cooked and served piping hot into trays five minutes before they are picked up by an army of volunteers and taken to the town's elderly.

The cooks believe catering for another 50 people will not take any more time than it does to provide for the 80 children.

Mrs Burnikell said catering for meals on wheels through the school meant that all the health and hygiene standards could easily be met.

She added that headteacher Peter Thompson was happy with the arrangement because the welfare of people in the community was at stake.

Meals on Wheels organisers appealed through the Herald for a venue and cooks to help provide the service, because in the last 10 years the cooking had moved six times due to various problems.

Most recently they had been prepared on a temporary basis by staff at Spoilt for Choice, but due to other commitments they had to stand down.

The appeal was published on the Craven Herald on May 23, and by 8.51am Initial Catering had phoned to offer its help.

Meals on Wheels co-ordinator Helen Hartley, who received her MBE for dedication to the service this year, said she and her volunteers were extremely pleased with the good news.

Meals on Wheels not only provides local elderly people with a freshly cooked meal but its team of 40 volunteers working on a monthly rota will take time to stop for a chat - they are often the only company that person has all day.

Anyone who would like to volunteer to deliver meals - only about two hours a month - or who would like to take over organising the rotas from Mrs Hartley should contact her on 01756 793443.

Meals on Wheels was launched after the world wars to help older people who were alone having lost partners and families.

Among the founders of the Skipton service were doctors' wives - County Councillor Joan Fisher, Margaret Merrill, Nancy Robinson and Nan Watson.

Thirty seven years ago Mrs Hartley, then a young mum, joined the group with a few other mums who had not gone back to work when their children went to school.

These mums are now all grandmothers and are still ensuring that the meals get to where they should be on time!