IF you know a trifle from a tiramisu and a stollen from a sponge, the Ealing Times needs your help.

Together with the National Autistic Society (NAS), the Ealing Times is launching a campaign to raise money for the NAS Sybil Elgar School in Ealing.

Funds are needed to build a new catering kitchen which will have a massive impact on the lives of students, enabling them to develop skills and to live more independently.

Called "Angel Cakes For Autism", we are inviting local groups in Ealing such as Brownies, Scouts, Women's Institutes, Rotary Clubs, schools, and companies to help raise money by holding cake baking competitions and sales.

The NAS Sybil Elgar school was the first autism-specific school in the world, and is geared towards helping children with autism through individual education programmes involving dance, drama, and music.

"Having a catering department like this is so important," says school manager Madeline Sturrock. "There are activities that our students have a real passion for and one of them is cooking.

"It will help their literacy and numeracy, and help them with "life skills" that you or I take for granted. Doing something they're interested in helps their behaviour, reduces stress and improves confidence. It is not just about getting a qualification but about using the kitchen as a vehicle to teach other things."

The school was opened by NAS in 1965 and provides education and support to 72 children with autism aged 11 to 19, some of whom are also residents. The catering kitchen will allow six pupils at a time to attend cookery and basic domestic skills classes. Students will also have the opportunity to undertake an NVQ in Catering and Hospitality.

One aspiring chef at the school Craig Taylor, 16, is particularly keen on the new facility.

"It will be really good to have the kitchen," he says. "I think it will make other people want to cook more as well."

Craig, who is not as severely autistic as other pupils, started cooking because he was fed up of the lunches at the school.

He explains: "It was a bit plain and boring so I bought ingredients and made my own."

The catering kitchen will also be an opportunity for the adjacent higher education college and other local organisations to use the facility.

President of NAS and celebrity chef Jane Asher is spearheading the campaign.

She said: "As president and a cake maker this competition is obviously very close to my heart.

"Angel Cakes for Autism is a fantastic idea. There are few things as satisfying and smug-making as baking a home-made cake, and at the same time you'll be raising money and awareness to help those affected by a very complex disorder. The school is a model of just how those with autism should be encouraged and supported to develop their full potential."

The kitchen will cost £58,000 to set up, and we are asking readers to help raise the money. It is hoped it will be finished in time for the new school term in 2006.

For entry forms, a fundraising pack and/or more information, ideas and advice on "Angel Cakes for Autism", contact 020 7903 3522 or email fundraising@nas.org.uk