THE team at Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge Foodbank have said a huge thank you to the volunteers and residents of the two towns who help to keep the service running.

The foodbank, which is based at Burnham-on-Sea Methodist Church in Church Street, has seen demand increase, and has fed 1,856 people in the past year, providing a lifeline for some of Somerset’s most vulnerable residents and families.

But Nick Bashford, chairman of Burnham and Highbridge Foodbank says this would not be possible without the generous donations from the people of Burnham and Highbridge as well as support from volunteers who give up their time to distribute food to those in need.

Mr Bashford, said: "We have been overwhelmed by the wonderful support from the local community over this last year.

"Our annual Tesco Christmas event collected 1,571 kilos of food in just three days with food continuing to be donated in the collection baskets at Tesco and Asda.

"We have received many individual donation from local supporters for which were are hugely grateful.

"Sadly, use of our foodbank continues to increase.

"Since the start of this year we have fulfilled 910 vouchers which has fed 1,286 adults and 570 children - a total of 1,856 people.

"This is a huge increase over the same period last year with 28 per cent more referral vouchers and 15 per cent more people fed.

"There are other local groups that help people with food so the true need is greater than our figures suggest."

Mr Bashford said he was also grateful to local schools and customers at Tesco in Burnham, who had donated a lot in the build up to Christmas.

He said: "We would not be able to provide this service to our local community without the wonderful group of volunteers who freely give their time and energies in collecting, sorting and distributing food.

"We are also very grateful to the Methodist Church in Burnham, St John's and Hope Baptist Church for the continued use of their premises."