EDUCAT ION
ADULT LEARNING
RESOLVING TO LOSE WEIGHT OR GIVE UP BOOZE IS SO 2019; THIS YEAR, LEARNING A NEW SKILL IS THE WAY TO GO, SAYS CHARLOTTE PHILLIPS New year, new you?
beats countering a miserable time of year more than the alchemy of turning a primordial warm gloop of yeast, flour and water into a freshly made loaf. “We do see people literally transformed after our bread classes, so it’s not an exaggeration to claim that learning how to bake bread is life-changing,” she says. “It falls into the category of mindfulness – a repetitive physical activity that allows the mind to wander.” Once people have experienced the first ecstatic experience of making their own Scandinavian rye or focaccia, they tend to carry on, she says, even sending photographs of their latest creations back to the Cambridge Cookery team.
while according to one survey, 90% of New Year’s diets fail by 1 February. In Cambridge, at least, plenty of local residents are opting for something different. Given how generally joyless January is, they’re swapping punitive for positive – opting for baking, tasting, writing and rethinking their way into a bright new future with courses and classes that aren’t just worthwhile but inspiring and challenging – not to mention good fun. Cambridge Cookery sees a lot of this. Its January Bread Making for Beginners class – one of many it runs - is always fully booked. The reason? Breadmaking’s fundamental appeal. As the school’s founder, Tine Roche explains, nothing
h go on, you know you want to. Roar into the new year, that is, as the best possible version of yourself, the person you know
you could be with just a little effort. All you need to do is cut out every type of indulgence and exercise yourself into oblivion and your happy, shiny new self will be ready to launch into the world. The only problem is that while the new, high-gloss version of ourselves might make it out there briefly, the older, scruffier one isn’t giving up without a fight. In an annual victory of hope over experience, millions of pounds are wasted each year by people on gym memberships and classes they never actually attend,
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C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K
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