The School Food Trust is set to launch Let’s Get Cooking – a national network of clubs to encourage children of all ages and non-cooking parents to cook nutritious meals.

The Big Lottery Fund has awarded £20m towards the scheme, which aims to address the UK’s emerging obesity crisis by launching around 5,000 clubs this autumn.

Prue Leith, chair of the Trust, said: “Let’s Get Cooking will revive cooking on a national scale, by helping people to learn new cooking skills and encouraging those parents who have lost the motivation to see how important this is to their families health and behaviour.”

The initiative has been running 21 successful pilot clubs in Lancashire, Plymouth and Somerset since January.

Project partners include the Prince’s Trust, Business in the Community, Magic Outcomes and the Improvement Foundation, as well as the British Nutrition Foundation and Royal Society for Health as advisors.

Chefs Richard Corrigan, Galton Blackiston and Marguerite Pattenare are also behind the scheme.

Brian Turner, head chef at Brian Turner Mayfair, The Millennium Hotel, added: “The number of stories about overweight and unhealthy children that have appeared in newspapers during the last few months show how badly this type of scheme is needed.

“I hope parents and kids get into the spirit of it and really make the most of this opportunity.” Details: www.letsgetcooking.org.uk