VOTE: Littlehampton school harvest tainted by two tabloid attacks

Two national newspapers and even an MEP criticised Summerlea Primary School, Rustington, and homeless charity HOMElink for requesting that children should not take fresh fruit and vegetables to the school’s harvest festival last week on health and safety grounds.

But both the school and the charity have pointed out that tinned food and packaged items were requested for HOMElink’s Littlehampton Larder, which provides emergency food parcels for families in crisis, and so they need to have a longer shelf life to be kept in storage until they are given out.

The Daily Express branded the school as “nutty” and outspoken Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn wrote on Tuesday: “Maybe someone at the charity has seen the 1978 B-movie Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and decided: better safe than sorry.

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party and one of the south-east’s MEP, commented: “Fear of bureaucracy is being used to rip the heart out of tradition in so many ways – in this case to make children think that giving is some way conditional.

“I have half a mind to suggest that they should take their ‘perishable’ products and present them to the local HSE (Health and Safety Executive).

“As for the charity, they should grow a spine.”

Brian Ball, executive head at Summerlea, said: “I feel we have been maligned for no good reason. I was astonished when I read the stories.

“HOMElink sent us a letter specifying what they would prefer.

“They don’t want fresh produce. If they had said send us everything fresh, we would have done.

“The reference to health and safety was left in our letter to parents from a charity we supported in Hove six years ago, which maybe on reflection we should have taken out.

“We are trying to say to our children, ‘You can help people less fortunate than you are. It’s a great feeling that you can make a difference and offer support’.

“How sad it has made us, that the school’s image has been damaged in this way, locally and nationally.

“As a school, we respect health and safety, but to the degree that we are rigorous with it, so you can do more exciting things.”

HOMElink chief executive Tony Moran said: “I’m incredibly disappointed with the angle that has been taken by these newspapers.

“They have drawn attention to what turned out not to be a health and safety issue, rather than focus on the generosity of the community, and this school in particular, in supporting our projects working with homeless and other vulnerable people.”

Were the two tabloid newspapers justified in attacking Summerlea Primary School’s request for no fresh produce at its harvest festival in aid of homeless charity HOMElink? Cast your vote in the panel to the right of the screen.