New corner shop-style support introduced by Alnwick District Food Bank

Around 120 people regularly use the Food Bank – around 30% more than this time last year. It has coincided with an 18% year-on-year increase in food prices.

Its recent move to new premises at the former Lindisfarne Middle School has led to a change in the way it works.

Instead of providing a food parcel - which worked really well during the pandemic - it has now moved over to a new sort of Food Bank.

Laid out like a friendly corner shop, and just as welcoming, shoppers can choose from a limited but healthy basic range of food to suit their individual and family needs, including some extras like fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, and meat as well as the usual tinned and packaged goods.

Carolyn Reynolds, Alnwick District Food Bank chair, said: “Nobody would use a Food Bank if they didn’t need to, so we wanted to make the experience one of choice and dignity, give people a warm and welcoming place, and be able to signpost to extra help – all of which we can do much more easily in our new rooms.

“Location in the new Community Hub at Lindisfarne School is particularly helpful. People can be referred to the CAB, Housing Team, Town Council and other useful agencies, and there’s a public coffee shop on site which both volunteers and clients enjoy.

“Huge thanks are due to our amazing volunteers, all of them local, some of whom have been with the Food Bank from the start, and who tell of different times not so long ago when, with food donated by church communities, they operated from a room provided free above Costa Coffee, taking food and parcels up and down flights of stairs and checking dates on food by torchlight!

"This new way of working is very different, and our volunteers really enjoy that they’re able to be part of an improved shopping experience for people who use the food bank.

“We’re also really pleased that we’ve been able to kit out our new rooms at no cost to Council Tax payers. Our shelving was provided with a generous legacy from a supporter, and our fridges and freezers were made possible with a grant from Northumberland Estates.”

She says the charity has had brilliant support with the move from volunteers and donors, from local businesses, from the council’s facilities team and from Cllr Gordon Castle, among many others, who have taken a keen interest in progress.

“We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in a town where people are socially aware and keen to help more vulnerable residents,” she added.

There are food donation bins at Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Morrisons and Marks and Spencer in Alnwick or pop along to the Food Bank on Tuesday or Thursday mornings, 9am-11am with any of the following: Cereal, tinned soup, pasta, fish or meat, dried beans and pulses, jars of pasta or curry sauce, biscuits, laundry and cleaning products; loo rolls, toothpaste, shampoo and shower gel, rice & pasta, dried or tinned pet food.