Clarence Community Food Share project Launched

On Thursday 9 November Clarence High School in Formby welcomed guests from the local community as well as dignitaries from Tesco and FareShare to help launch the Clarence Community Food Share project.

For a number of weeks, we have been receiving surplus food from the Ainsdale branch of Tesco and providing meals for of the local community.

The launch event aimed to raise the profile of this service so more members of our community can benefit.

The guests at the event included Normandie Wragg, Nugent’s CEO, Mark Jamieson, from Community Food Connection Tesco, former Bootle MP, Joe Benton, and representatives from FareShare Merseyside.

John Gorman From Tesco Ainsdale Express said

"It was fantastic to be invited to the Clarence Community Food Share event at Clarence High School.  I was humbled on the day to see the devotion and support given to the students and community by the colleagues at Clarence High School.  It is a privilege to be in a position where we can as a Tesco business help those in our local community whilst reducing food waste. I look forward to growing this relationship and supporting the great work that goes on."

Former MP, Joe Benton has been an integral part of getting the Clarence Community Food Share up and running and said

"The event was highly successful. Very positive to see so many responses to help the project get off the ground from the different organisations that attended. There is a great potential at Clarence High School to improve social welfare for the elderly."

Mark Jamieson from Tesco Community Food Connection tweeted:

“I was inspired today hearing about the work Clarence High School do and the future plans, I am proud to be a part of it.“

Maria Bailey, Senior Pastoral Worker whose responsible for initiating the scheme:

“The launch of the Clarence community food share was a great success. It gave us an opportunity to meet with other people from various organisations sharing a similar goal. The links we made will help us move our project forward.

Our aim is to help put an end to loneliness by providing people in the local community with an opportunity for a chat and to make new friends whilst enjoying afternoon tea.

It will also allow people to see all the good work done here at Clarence High school.

All this would not be possible without the support of Tesco Ainsdale who provide the food”.

Residents at Nugent’s Adult care home, Margaret Roper House have been attending the lunches and said:

“I enjoyed it, I liked the Sandwiches and the cakes, they were very good.” R.F

“I think it’s very nice, very homely. They are kind and thoughtful, it’s a lovely place to go.” A.M

The project will continue with weekly lunches and food collected will be shared across the local community to help older people and families.