Hi readers, it’s Emily and William here this week, talking about healthy and simple meals.

Why? Well, at the Friendship Club, where we go out to meet friends for supper in pubs and cafes, often the menu choices are unhealthy. It’s really tempting to choose meals like burgers and chips. We think that’s ok once in a while but we want and need healthier choices.

Another reason we want this is because people with learning disabilities are known to have worse health than people who don’t. It means we need to work extra hard to be well, so in the last year we have been exploring ways to eat healthy and appetising food when we are out - not just boring salad.

Our new idea began when one of the members had a very tasty and healthy chicken stir fry at an event. Everyone wanted some! We talked to the pub, who said they would put on a healthy menu once a month. That was great, but then they closed down!

This year we trialled our idea at Folke Golf Club in North Dorset with healthy baked potato nights. They’ve been really popular! Now we want to team up with pubs and ask them to put on healthy supper nights for everyone (not just people who have a learning disability) with affordable and tasty choices. We think it’s best they are on quiet nights, so pubs benefit too from extra income. It will help us to eat out in the community, meet friends and stay healthy.

What do you think of our idea? Would you go? We hope to get some funding to start this in Dorset. We’ll know soon if we were successful. Wish us luck!

The writers of the Our View column are supported in their editing by The Friendship Club– a project for adults with learning disabilities, run by People First Dorset