LOCAL grandmother Rae Wilson, from Stirlingshire, returned to GrandFest for a second year to teach the art of preserve making at the one day festival in London recently.

Thousands of visitors descended on Spitalfields on Sunday, June 5 to celebrate London’s unique craft festival, GrandFest.

Hosted by older people’s charity, Royal Voluntary Service, the festival celebrates older people and the heritage skills they have to share with the younger generation.

Rae, 75, has volunteered for Royal Voluntary Service for over 10 years.

Her main role is project manager of a weekly lunch club in Stirlingshire, which has been running for nine years.

Here she is able to continue her passion for cooking and develop her skills.

Rae’s love for cooking began when she was 10 years old, following her mother’s lead.

Being a war-time baby, the only way she was able to have treats was from her mother baking jam and marmalade, which she really appreciated.

She enjoys cooking for her friends at home, and at the lunch club. Rae cooks preserves for Balfron Parish, her local church and has since passed her skill onto her children and grandchildren for inspiration, who are very fond of her lemon curd.

The skilled GrandMakers, all aged over 70, hosted a series of master classes from bread-making to crochet and basket weaving to wood turning to share their fountain of knowledge and inspire others to pick up a hobby.

The fun and interactive master classes took place in various shops, cafes and museums in and around Spitalfields.

Rae hosted a popular preserve making master class at GrandFest and was thrilled to be part of the event.

She said: "I love making jams, jellies and chutneys. It concerns me that many of the skills older people possess are not being taught to the younger generations and are at risk of dying out.

"So I showed people how to make one of the simplest preserves, lemon curd, which will hopefully inspire them to make more."

Many of the heritage craft skills that were taught are experiencing a renaissance as they have become popular once again with previous research by Royal Voluntary Service identifying that 80 per cent of 18-24 year olds would consider learning a new skill or craft if they had the option.

In April, the GrandMakers met HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the Geffrye Museum.

As President of Royal Voluntary Service, the Duchess was provided with a sneak preview of the skills each GrandMaker was planning to showcase at GrandFest.

David McCullough, chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service, said: "Royal Voluntary Service launched GrandFest to celebrate the many skills possessed by older people and to highlight the importance of them continuing to enjoy and share them in later life.

"We were delighted with the amount of people that turned out to support us at GrandFest. Our GrandMakers were delighted to showcase their skills and inspire the younger generation to get involved too."

The Royal Voluntary Service is one of the biggest volunteer organisations in the UK, which supports over 100,000 older people each month.

Through its army of 35,000 volunteers, the charity runs services such as Good Neighbours (companionship), Meals-on-Wheels and Books-on-Wheels that alleviate loneliness and help older people.

Royal Voluntary Service also provides practical support for older people who have been in hospital through its 'On Ward' support and 'Home from Hospital' services and via its network of retail shops and cafes.