The Prince of Wales has visited Slough to meet young people supported by a local charity.

Today (January 17) at 10am Prince William met with representatives of Together As One, formerly known as Aik Saath, and the young people the charity supports.

Together As One was formed 25 years ago to help tackle gang violence in Slough, and now provides a wealth of services from sports activities to cooking workshops.

It calls on young people in the process of conflict resolution, equipping them with the skills to go into schools and talk to their peers in a bid to de-escalate tensions and tackle anger.

Upon arriving at the charity, Prince William was greeted by CEO Rob Deeks, who led him upstairs to meet current staff members, some of whom are former volunteers, to hear more about their work with schools and how they help young people in the area.

Prince William later joined a group of young carers being taught about food nutrition and cooking skills by chef and teacher Kevin Muhammad.

The prince told the chef: “I do a mean steak. My sauces come out quite dry or lumpy – I’ve got to work on those.”

William took off his jacket and put on an apron to help with the dish the group were making – teriyaki chicken – and poured a bowl of pre-cooked noodles into the wok of simmering poultry.

The chef said afterwards the prince tried the chicken noodle dish and enjoyed it, adding: “William said it was amazing, he was very impressed with the food and impressed with the five-spice we put in and how it was seasoned.

“He said he loves breakfast. He said Kate is a good cook but he’s not a fan of fresh coriander.”

Following the session young people were given the opportunity to talk to Prince Willian about a range of issues from the cost-of-living crisis to their concerns about knife crime and youth violence.

During the discussion, Faizaan Hamid, 24, who started volunteering for Together As One after he was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder at 15 and is now a young carer support worker at the charity, spoke about his journey and how the charity has helped him develop his communication skills and confidence.

Faizaan said: “I felt privileged that, how I was eight years ago when I first got diagnosed to how I am now, I would never have thought that I’ll be speaking to somebody in the Royal Family about my condition and hopefully my input will be taken forward.”

The organisation was originally called Aik Saath, which means Together As One in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, to reflect its initial work responding to gang violence between young people from Asian backgrounds in Slough in the late 1990s.

Its work has evolved to meet the needs of Slough’s diverse community, which has led to the development of support for young carers, projects focused on mental health, and campaigns and creative projects designed to strengthen relationships in the community and tackle issues like bullying, knife crime and racism.Rob Deeks, Together As One’s chief executive officer,

CEO Rob Deeks reflected on the visit. He said: “I’m absolutely overjoyed with it. I think the thing that really makes it stand out and the thing that makes it really special is we were lucky enough to be able to make sure that some of the young people that we work with are here today and he spoke to every single one of them.

“He listened to absolutely all of them, talked about their concerns, listened to the way that they volunteer to make their community a better place.

“We’ve got some young carers here. He talked to them about their caring responsibilities. I can’t thank him enough because he made every single person in this place feel valued.”