A FOOD project based in Bridport has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards.

Radio 4's Food Programme visited the Centre for Local Food on Monday to record some of its pioneering work with young people.

The West Dorset Food and Land Trust, which runs the centre, was set up in 1998 by Tim Crabtree and oversees a series of workshops and projects promoting healthy eating and Dorset produce.

It was selected in the awards category for best food campaigner/educator by a panel of judges including Sir Don Curry, who chaired the Commission on Food and Farming after the Foot and Mouth crisis, and chef Raymond Blanc.

Mr Crabtree said: "It is a great honour for everyone - staff and volunteers - who have worked so hard over the last six years.

"The trust has already been recognised by the Countryside Agency as the driving force behind Bridport's selection as a Beacon Town, demonstrating good practice in promoting local food, and it is fantastic to be a finalist in the BBC awards."

The BBC Food and Farming Awards were created to celebrate the people and organisations who work "tirelessly to produce and sell good quality food in Britain and to reward those campaigning to protect what is best in our food culture".

Jackie Wolfe, who manages the trust's work on healthy eating, said: "Much of the trust's work at the Centre for Local Food is about bringing the fun of growing, cooking and eating good food to those who may be denied those opportunities - such as young people not attending school, children from Mountjoy, students from Colfox, or young parents on low incomes - and this national recognition may help us to secure the funds to allow this work to continue."

The cookery workshop for youngsters on Monday, funded by the Department of Health, was part of a series of 'cooking with local food' events being held at the centre to mark Dorset Food Week.

The trust receives funding under the Opportunities for Volunteering scheme, and now has over 20 active volunteers who share their enthusiasm for cookery. Other events at the centre this week included workshops for parents (or carers) and their children, people over 60 and children aged eight to 11. Mr Crabtree said: "It is great to see Dorset Food Week going from strength to strength since its inception by the trust in 1999.

"The first two years just covered west Dorset, but then the county council helped to extend it across the county. The Food and Land Trust has continued to help organise the events in the west of the county, and we are proud that the greatest concentration of events is still around Bridport.

"Dorset Food Week, along with the Farmers' Markets, Bridport Food Festival and the Beacon Town designation have helped put Bridport on the map, and we are very proud of that."

He will attend the BBC award ceremony in November, which will be hosted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of west Dorset's River Cottage fame.