Heywood pupils wear silly socks to tackle serious hunger problem

Our Lady and St Paul's School Silly Sock Day for CAFOD

A Heywood school has dressed up with silly socks in a fight against the serious problem of an unjust global food system.

Pupils and teachers from Our Lady and St. Paul RC Primary School wore the unusual socks on Friday 3 October to raise £190 for the work of Catholic aid agency CAFOD. The school wore the silly socks to highlight what CAFOD describes as a ‘silly’ food system, as part of the charity’s annual Harvest Fast Day appeal.

Deputy Headteacher Laura Bolton said: “The whole school from Nursery to Year 6 wore the odd socks to school in order to support CAFOD as the children are fully aware of the good work that is done by CAFOD. Every year our school chooses to raise money for this worthwhile charity.

“Assemblies, school council meetings and lessons have been centred around CAFOD and the Harvest. Our Year 2 children worked especially hard on an assembly for parents and raising awareness of the fact that one-in-eight people go to bed hungry every night.”

CAFOD’s Harvest Fast Day appeal aims to increase awareness of global hunger and raise funds to tackle its causes, ranging from food waste to a changing climate. This money can then finance projects which tackle the causes of hunger, including providing the tools or techniques for families to grow their own food.

Ged Edwards, CAFOD manager for Rochdale, said: “This Harvest, CAFOD is asking children to do something silly for a serious issue – the fact that one-in-eight children go to bed hungry every day. We produce enough food every year, yet 870 million people are going hungry because of food being wasted or more extreme weather making it harder to grow food in many countries.”

“The money raised by Our Lady and St. Paul’s silly clothes day allows CAFOD to help families in places from Nicaragua in South America to Bangladesh in Asia to produce food and make a living.

“We would like to thank the children from Our Lady and St. Paul’s for their generosity in standing in solidarity with children around the world.”