Eighteen-year-old curry paste donation tops poll

West Berkshire Foodbank's tally of oldest items

AN EIGHTEEN-year-old tin of curry paste currently tops the list of oldest items donated to the West Berkshire Foodbank.

The chairman of the foodbank, Andrew Bruce, keeps an amusing prize-winning tally of the odd ‘past-sell-by-date’ items donated to the foodbank, placed by shoppers in bins located in 17 local supermarkets.

The Tandoori curry paste, dated March 1997, is currently in top position.

“We can’t put items like that out to the public. They have to be thrown away,” said Mr Bruce, adding that the same applied to any items that had been opened.

“We throw away lots of half-opened packets of cornflakes,” he said.

The steady flow of usable items placed in the bins is transported by van – donated by Swift couriers, of Newbury – to a huge warehouse facility at Greenham, the use of which is also provided free of charge to the foodbank by the owner, the Greenham Common Trust.

“Greenham Common Trust has been exceptionally good to us,” said Mr Bruce.

A list of standard items distributed by the foodbank typically includes tinned meat, tinned fish, fruit, rice pudding, sugar, pasta, rice, noodles, tea, coffee, long-life juice and UHT milk, along with other essentials such as sanitary towels, nappies, shaving requisites and soap powder.

“It’s not just food. When people don’t have anything, quite often they are looking for things like that as well,” said Mr Bruce.

Tinned fish was one item the foodbank often ran short of, while tins of baked beans were in plentiful supply.

After the donated items have been sorted at the warehouse, they are transported to the Salvation Army’s Newbury base in Northcroft Lane.

There they are distributed under a voucher system, following referrals, to the foodbank’s clients.

Volunteers, who are willing to listen and offer help with problems such as debt, await with a welcome cup of tea and chat.

Designed to last three days, a single person receives 9kg of items and a family can receive up to 22kg – the maximum weight of the average holiday suitcase.

Bucking the national trend, the West Berkshire Foodbank saw a 20 per cent decrease in demand over the last year, which Mr Bruce put down to lower local unemployment.

He pointed out that the figure was likely to rise in the new year, when the effects of the new universal credit would be felt.

For more information about the West Berkshire foodbank, including an application form for volunteers, visit www.westberks.foodbank.org.uk