BRIDPORT'S pioneering school meals service is offering share options - in a bid to raise enough money to serve up hot food every day.

In August the service, run by Local Food Links, was thrown a £50,000 lifeline by the Co-op Fund - money that director Tim Crabtree said ensured the scheme's future and enabled it to increase its staff to 12.

Now he wants money to pay for better kitchen equipment so children can get a hot meal every day - that's nearly 100,000 meals a year.

Eight of Bridport's primary schools signed up to offer hot school meals made from local food.

The eight schools wanted an alternative to microwaving ready meals from London and opted to have the meals cooked at the Bridport Centre for Local Food.

In the last year pupils have eaten 25,000 hot meals, but organisers want to expand the service to five days a week and need money to do it. Investors will have to keep their shares for five years before requesting repayment, and no dividends will be paid as all profits are reinvested in the hot meals service.

However, if investors buy more than £500 of shares they are eligible for 20 per cent tax relief.

Tim Crabtree, a director of Local Food Links and a Bridport Primary School parent, said: "We want to make the service available to the eight schools five days per week, offer the meals to new schools in the surrounding area and also produce food for sale in the community.

"The more we can produce, the lower our overheads will be and the school meals will be as low-priced as possible.

"The financial returns to our investors will be low, but they will have the satisfaction of seeing a very high social return."

The new investment scheme is the first in the UK.

Mr Crabtree added: "Usually the issue of a share prospectus is prohibitively expensive - at least £50,000 in fees to accountants and lawyers - but with the new model these costs are much lower."

For information, and for a prospectus, call Tim Crabtree on 01308 428920, or see the website wessexrt.co.uk