Friday 21 October 2022

THE UK’s biggest food bank network is preparing to spend millions of pounds topping up charity food parcels this winter as it offers help to record numbers of families at risk of going hungry as a result of the cost of living crisis. The Trussell Trust, which operates food banks in Beverley and across the East Riding, said the expenditure was needed to ensure food banks had adequate food reserves because its customary main source of food supplies – donations from the public – was failing to keep pace with rapidly increasing demand. 

The Trust said it expected 1.3 million emergency food parcels would be distributed by its members over the next six months to help soaring numbers of households in need – including 500,000 to families with children. Its 420 food banks have already this year had to buy three times as much food as they did the previous year to maintain supplies, it said, each spending £1,400 a month on average to ensure they met the growing need for food parcels.

Unexpectedly high demand for food parcels in August and September when demand is normally slower meant its food banks have been unable to stockpile sufficient food, leaving many with relatively depleted stores as they prepare for their busiest time of year. 

The ZOO at Sewerby Hall and Gardens will reopen tomorrow in time for half-term, having been closed since early September, following local cases of avian flu. There will still be some restrictions, however – the new walkthrough aviary will still be unable to operate, although visitors can still see the large and varied collection of ducks it contains. 

There will be disinfectant mats at the entrances and exits to the zoo, and plenty of hand sanitiser will be available, as well as hand wash facilities. Visitors are also asked to avoid any contact with the animals and birds, and to keep a distance from the front of each enclosure.