THIS is by way of a thank you letter to Blackpool and Fylde College, with a special thank you to Steven Alexander and his catering team.

For the past few weeks my 14-year-old son, who has never really shown much interest in schoolwork and even less enthusiasm, has been relinquishing his precious Saturday morning lie-in to attend the college's excellent Saturday Cookery Club.

This is a six-week course designed to give teenagers a taste of real cooking in professional surroundings.

For the cost of £15, to cover ingredients, my son and nine others (mostly boys!) have, with Mr Alexander's guidance and encouragement, produced a range of first class food that my family, if not my waistline, have really enjoyed. Finally today they produced a three-course meal for their proud parents that could have graced any restaurant table.

As I talked to the other parents it became clear that they have learnt more than how to cook a mouth-watering sticky toffee pudding.

They have learnt to value themselves, to have confidence in their own ability and, most importantly, to understand that working hard to learn a skill is not a drag and can be worth getting out of bed for! My son has already signed up for the pastry course next week.

We see many letters complaining of teenagers hanging around with nothing to do. This type of tailor-made course is a wonderful way to help begin to tackle this problem, yet I learnt that Steven Alexander and his team are volunteers and the course is their own idea.

Maybe it's an idea that should be adopted, expanded on and sanctioned by the powers that be.

Well done to all the 200 would-be teenage cooks that have already passed the course, and thank you to Steven Alexander and Blackpool and the Fylde College for making it possible. I have enjoyed it as much as my son and can't wait to see/eat what he brings home next week.

Larraine Eastwood,

Harrow Ave,

Fleetwood.