A BASINGSTOKE man and his granddaughter have appeared in a campaign to end food poverty.

Footballer Marcus Rashford has joined forces with celebrity chef Tom Kerridge to launch their campaign, Full Time Meals, to promote healthy and cheap recipes for families.

John Diamond and eight-year-old Leila have played their part by making 150 hot meals for the community using one of Tom’s recipe, the ham and pea risotto.

And a recording of them cooking up a storm in the kitchen has been posted to the Manchester United and England player’s campaign account, amassing 8,000 views.

“My son-in-law filmed the video and sent it to Marcus Rashford’s team,” Mr Diamond told The Gazette.

The 79-year-old, who has lived in Basingstoke for 40 years, said it was Leila who encouraged him to star in the clip.

“My granddaughter wanted me in the video. I was like, ‘Really?’. Basically, it was her initiation.”

Inspired by Rashford’s initiative, Leila had cooked and donated 150 hot meals for her local community store in London and raised more than £1,000.

She told the Gazette: “I loved cooking with my grandad, he’s the best and between us we managed to cook up a lovely meal which was easy to do.

“I was inspired by Marcus Rashford’s Free School Meals campaign last year and wanted to do something to help. My grandad is an Arsenal fan, but we love Marcus Rashford.”

Retired postal worker Mr Diamond moved to Basingstoke in 1980. He worked for Basingstoke Post Office for 30 years before retiring in 2004.

In the video, Rashford, currently representing England in the Euro 2020, introduces the granddad-granddaughter duo by saying: “You won’t believe who is in the kitchen cooking a full-time meal this week.”

Kerridge follows it up, saying they “they someone very special”.

Speaking of Leila, the chef said: “This superstar was so inspired by your free school meals campaign last year, that she cooked and donated 150 hot meals for her local community store and raised over £1,000. Here she is trying one of our full time meals.”

For more information, visit instagram.com/fulltimemeals.