"Squirrel is real food, it's readily available and does taste good," said chef Gareth Eddy, who planned to get young people to help him fry up squirrel meat. "I can understand why some people might be a little squeamish, but when you think about it, there are an awful lot of grey squirrels around and many gardeners would be glad to be rid of them."
Chris Searle, one of the festival organisers, said he thought children would find the idea of tasting squirrel "interesting". "I'm sure some will be a little uncertain but I think the braver ones will give it a try, well once anyway," he told the BBC. Could this be a whole new dimension in the debate on school dinners?
- "Unhealthy people to be offered £20 'bribes' to force them to see a doctor," was the headline in The Daily Mail, which got a tad over-excited about proposals being considered by one health trust.
North East Essex Primary Care Trust is looking at the idea of using cash incentives or vouchers to encourage disadvantaged groups - such as children in care - to attend GP appointments.
"If the idea is successful, it could be rolled out across the country," said the Mail, which explained that trust chief executive Paul Zollinger-Read had made a career out of pioneering ideas that later became government policy. "He initiated moves to make the NHS and social services work more closely together for the benefit of elderly people, and he set up one of the first children's trusts, designed to improve services for young people," said the Mail. With a track record like that you can see why the paper is concerned.
- Practically everyone has a view on what young people need. But if you want someone who knows, look no further than Allan Pope, a youth worker for more than three decades.
The Northampton Chronicle and Echo reported his retirement after 35 years as assistant chief executive and personnel director for the Northamptonshire Association of Youth Clubs.
As well as working hands-on in youth clubs, Pope also ran a holiday scheme for disabled young people and adults for 15 years. And as far as he's concerned, young people's needs haven't changed.
"Young people are often stereotyped and portrayed in a negative light these days, which in itself just perpetuates the problem," he told the paper.
"The answer is the same as it was 35 years ago: young people need to be valued, appreciated, shown love and respect and given self-confidence."
SOUNDBITE
"This is exciting. It makes me think of a part of a film where people are fighting" - Nine-year-old Havana Russell gives her verdict on Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries in an article about classical music in The Herald.
