Former Arsenal and England footballer Sol Campbell explains why he is swapping the pitch for the kitchen to raise money for bereaved children through Winston’s Wish new campaign: As one of the best defenders English football has ever seen, former Arsenal and Tottenham star Sol Campbell, was well known for being a leader of men.

Now, he is asking us to follow him into the kitchen and cook up a storm – all the while raising money for a great cause. Campbell is one of a number of celebrities, including Dame Judi Dench, Heston Blumenthal, Richard and Judy and comedian Shappi Khorsandi, lending their support to bereaved children’s charity Winston’s Wish brand new campaign the Great British Brekkie. Running from today through to February 15, the campaign is helping to raise money for bereaved children by asking the public to hold their own breakfast parties – everything from champagne receptions to a good old cup of tea and slice of toast – and donating any money raised to this most worthy of causes.

Winston’s Wish calculates that a child is bereaved every 22 minutes in the UK and that around £2.4m a year is needed to maintain its vital work, which includes their Helpline, which answers around 13,000 calls a year from parents, teachers and health care professionals who need advice and guidance or just someone to speak to. Ex-Premier League winner Campbell, who became aware of the campaign when meeting Winston’s representatives at the Cheltenham Literature Festival during a promotional tour of his book The Authorised Biography, jumped at the chance to lend his culinary talents. And although his recipe is “probably more Jamaican than British”, his breakfast of scrambled eggs with pepper, baked beans with fried onions topped off with dumplings is one that you won’t see on too many menus. “It’s interesting, you should try it, it’s lovely,” he says letting out a big laugh. “It’s a little bit different from bacon and eggs, isn’t?”

Campbell is that confident in his recipe that he says he even eats it himself. Well, on occasion, anyway. “I do eat it, although I’m not going to say I eat it all the time. I grew up eating it with my family.” As well as the raising money aspect of the campaign, as an ex professional athlete Campbell is hoping to increase awareness of not only healthy eating, but highlight the importance of eating a good hearty breakfast for everyone. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for kids growing up,” he said.

“With my kids, I always give them a proper breakfast. It’s so important.

“It’s extremely important for that to happen. You don’t want them to have an empty stomach and also you don’t want a situation where they go up and down with the wrong types of food in the morning. You don’t want them crashing down through food. So a balanced, slow burning breakfast is the best thing for anyone to have.” With that in mind, he’s encouraging everyone to give his breakfast a go. “It’s a great breakfast. It reminds me of growing up and it also reminds me of Jamaica. I would recommend you having a go.”

  • You can sign up to take part in your very own Great British Brekkie at greatbritishbrekkie.org.uk and you can support the work with bereaved children by texting Donate: BREK13 to 70070. For more information visit winstonswish.org.uk