‘Mocktails’ competition - grand final announced

The scheme aims to encourage young people to take more of an interest in non-alcoholic drinks.

Winning teams from schools across the Horsham District will compete in an inter-school final competition where the teams will get the chance to become the Mocktail Apprentice Grand Finalist 2012/13.

The project team has been visiting secondary schools across the Horsham District giving teams of students the chance to come up with their own ‘mocktail’ (non-alcoholic cocktail) recipes before pitching them to a panel of judges, made up of local business, health and youth work representatives.

The winning teams will compete at South Lodge Hotel in July and there will be some exciting prizes for the overall winners, including their ‘mocktail’ being made available for sale on the drinks menu at South Lodge Hotel as well as others’ drinks menus.

The project is being run by Horsham District Council, Sussex Central YMCA’s Young Person’s Alcohol Initiative and Horsham Matters, after they successfully bid for £9,000 of an ‘Alcohol fund’ from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in early 2012.

The fund was announced by Baroness Newlove in her latest report, Building Safe, Active Communities, to help local neighbourhoods address alcohol related issues such as underage drinking and associated anti-social behaviour.

Baroness Newlove will be among the VIP guests attending the finale event.

Sue Rogers, HDC Cabinet Member for a Safer and Healthier District, said: “I am excited to finally see the end result of this exciting competition.

“Whilst young people’s binge drinking is not a significant issue within the Horsham District community, the Mocktail Apprentice Project has been an important and innovative educational project for the District and for our young people.”