Buckley’s Foodbank has its shelves filled by donation from storage giant

Flintshire foodbank is bracing itself for the traditional Christmas surge in demand They've had a welcome boost with a van load of goodies from a local business.

The Buckley centre, part of the Flintshire Foodbank’s network of nine centres across the county, has had its shelves replenished by Lock Stock Self Storage who have a storage park on the town’s Globe Way.

Buckley Foodbank is at the Buckley Cross Methodist Church Hall and is open on Wednesday afternoons, staffed by volunteers who are mainly retired and hands out over ten food parcels a week to a mix of single people, couples and family groups.

It opened eight years ago and moved to its present home a year later and Anne Farnsworth, one of the volunteers, said:

“We’ve got a good team here and for the last two years we’ve also opened a Warm Hub here where people can just pop in for some company, a chat, a cup of tea and some cakes.

“We also have the Citizens Advice Bureau here, Flintshire Council’s welfare team and mental health charity MIND, and that’s all hosted by Buckley Cross Methodist Church.

“At this time of year the numbers coming in will go up dramatically and we’ll have over 40 food parcels for singles and family groups so we’re catering for up to a 100 people.

“There is an increasing number of people of no fixed abode who might be put up in hotels where they don’t have any cooking facilities, not even a microwave so we have to give them things like pot noodles that they can make with a kettle.”

Volunteer Helen George said:

“When I retired I found I wasn’t as busy as I’d been and I had referred people to Social Services from the Eye Clinic where I worked so I decided to get involved in helping here.

“We get a lot of the food given by customers at local supermarkets but we also get individual donations as well and it’s very welcome when a business like Lock Stock come forward like this.

“We are seeing more people, especially older people who might have just missed out on their heating allowance and it is a matter of pride for many people but we provide our service very discreetly.

“It’s certainly wonderful to get this donation from Lock Stock just in time for Christmas and we’re very grateful for their support.”

Lock Stock Self Storage, based in Denbigh, are one of the fastest-growing storage businesses in the UK.

Area Site Manager Richard Warner said:

“We do like to get involved with the communities where we operate and it’s our way of saying thank you to the people of Buckley for their support.

“The Foodbank is clearly a much-needed service and hopefully Lock Stock will have played a part in bringing some Christmas cheer to local households.

“The team of volunteers here in Buckley clearly do a fantastic job at what is a very difficult time for so many people and we like to support the community in the places where we are in business whether that’s charities like the Flintshire Foodbank or local schools and community groups.”

Lock Stock, founded in Denbigh in 1999, is the UK’s largest containerised storage company with almost 4,500 units providing over four million cubic feet of space at 29 storage parks across North and Mid Wales, Shropshire and Merseyside.

The company estimates that 60 per cent of their containers are rented by people moving house or keeping treasured possessions but up to 40 per cent, almost 2,000 of their containers are used by small businesses for storing materials.

Lock Stock also specialise in the off-site hire of containers, delivered to your location by their specialist lorry and hired on a month-by-month basis. The containers are 10, 20 and 40 feet in length.

They can also use their lorry to relocate a container, contents and all, to a different Lock Stock site in the event of a house or business move.

For information about Lock Stock Self Storage including off-site container hire contact them on 01745 817178 or go to: 

https://lockstock.biz/

For more information about the work of the Flintshire Foodbank go to: 

https://flintshire.foodbank.org.uk/

Pictured - Lock Stock Self Storage are supporting Buckley Foodbank, at Buckley Cross Community Centre, where Area Manager Richard Warner, centre, is pictured with a delivery for, from left, volunteers Anne Farnsworth, Lucy Glyn-Davies and Helen and Michael George.

Picture Credit - Rick Matthews.