Cook book co-ordinator Jenny Moore said the collection of recipes was originally gathered as a fundraiser for the Holy Family School.

A former parent Ms Moore said every child contributed a recipe, while the parents did a lot of catering to get the school up and running.

The first edition of the popular recipe book was produced in 1996 by the Mothers’ Club.

Ms Moore said there had been a long tradition of using food for fundraising since the school opened in 1979. That first year the dads built the Holy Family Food Van. And for the first five years there were street stalls, lunches and fetes.

In 1980 a group of mums did commercial catering to raise funds for the new school.

Many of those mums got together last week to recreate the cookbook with the school’s blessing to raise money for the Cancer Council.

Cancer research is particularly important to Holy Family as the school lost its religious education co-ordinator, Mark Bates, to cancer.

“All our kids are leaving home for uni and they wanted to take ‘the cook book’ with them,” Ms Moore explained.

“New families at Holy Family have also heard of it and wanted to get a copy.

“You couldn’t get it at the school any more so we had to do another batch.

“It’s a really good cookbook. It uses things you’ve already got in the cupboard.

“They’re all tried and true recipes and simple enough for anyone to use, even our kids,” she laughed.

Jenny Moore is well-known for her annual morning tea in support of the Cancer Council. She held her first in 1999 and the following year her daughter Michelle was diagnosed with leukaemia. She has recovered and is now involved with the morning tea along with her mum and grandmother Josie Rouland.

The book has hundreds of practical recipes and is fully indexed and illustrated.

Two hundred copies have been printed and it is available at Holy Family School and MacKillop College offices and at Marietta’s in George Street for $15. If anyone wants one posted out for $20, they can contact Jenny on 6331 7462 or email jenneil@lisp.com.au.

* One of the Holy Family Cook Book recipes, Marilyn Pratley’s Texas Sheet Cake, will be featured in the Western Times tomorrow.