TWO Cinderford primary schools have donated in total 18 crates of food to Forest Foodbank as part of its harvest festival celebrations.

St Anthony’s and Forest View chose to support the charity, which is run by Trussell Trust and provides food to those living below the breadline.

Forest View collected 14 crates of non-perishable goodies while St Anthony’s filled four.

Children at St Anthony’s celebrated harvest with a Mass at Our Lady of Victories Church in Cinderford. The fresh produce collected was donated to Crossroads Care Day centre, based in Foxes Bridge Road, and the non-perishable items were donated to the Forest Food Bank.

Head boy, Ben Hannaford and head girl, Isabel Suehr presented the items to staff at the collection centre in Cinderford. The children also raised £300 for the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and presented a cheque to Mrs Sarah Rowe from the charity at their assembly.

Headteacher, Mrs Julie James said: “Our value this term has been generosity and we have seen this in action through the generous giving of our parents and children.”

Last year the Forest Food Bank supplied 2,389 people with food which included 805 children.  

Headteacher, Mr Ben Lyons said: “The Foodbank does incredible work for the community and many of our families have been able to use the service at times when they have most needed it.

“Staff at Forest View were overwhelmed by the generosity of our families who bought in an incredible amount of food for the bank.”

To support the work of the Forest Foodbank contact [email protected] or phone 07775 265263.

•FOREST Foodbank is the only foodbank in the south west to see an increase in demand since the beginning of the year, it was revealed during the Trussell Trust national conference.

Demand for food is 40 per cent up on this time last year and Sandi McDonagh at the Forest Foodbank says she doesn’t anticipate the demand lessening.

She said: “We were the only foodbank in the whole of the south west who had an increase in demand, which was 40 per cent. We don’t anticipate the demand lessening.”

She added: “A big thank you for all the harvest festival donations from schools, churches and other groups. We are well-stocked but storage is still an issue for us. If anyone can help, contact 07775 265263 for details.”