A COMMUNITY larder saw a surge in families using its service over the first lockdown and expects to see a similar increase during this month’s restrictions.

Rose Hill Community Larder is an initiative run by Magdalen College School and SOFEA, a charity that campaigns to give more people high-quality food.

The larder aims to provide more than just food, and also create a community.

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The project has working every week without fail since it began in November 2019, including over the pandemic.

Before the lockdown, the food larder would open each week at Rose Hill Primary School. Over the lockdown, however, the initiative paired up with SOFEA to provide free food boxes to those in the OX4 postcode.

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During the lockdown, over 100 families a week made use of the larder, which equated to over 1,500 hours of volunteer time and the delivery of approximately 3,000 boxes of food.

The larder is now operating at Rose Hill Community Centre every Tuesday from 2pm to 4pm, and is open to anyone.

The membership is not means-tested and the team are keen to welcome new members.

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The cost of a single/couple membership is £3.50 a week and a family membership is £7 a week. This allows you to take 10 or 20 items respectively. Fresh fruit and vegetables are unlimited.

Anne Kenyon, deputy head of community service organisation at the school said: “In life before lockdown, we were not just about providing food, we were about creating a community hub.

“The project was run by staff, parents, and pupils of MCS, and we had part of the room for the food, and part of the room for coffee, time for a chat, a sit-down - the children could stay and play with our pupils who would be running activities.

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“It gave members of the community chance for a break whilst the pupils looked after the children.

“We then started a weekly recipe: we found out what food we were likely to get, and created a recipe. We had all these plans to create a cookbook, but sadly we were cut short in all of these things.

“But that’s very much still the intention, once we are into a new normal, which is more like our old normal, we can run these sorts of things again, because like I said the project is not just about food.

“Obviously at the moment the food is the focus, but the idea is a centre for the community.

“When we moved into lockdown, unfortunately, all of these side aspects were gone.

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“We moved into the community centre, rather than the primary school next door because obviously, the school cannot have lots of members of the public coming through.

“We then moved to provide the SOFEA boxes, which were free, but now we have come up with a paid membership model.”

She added: “It is for whatever suits you and the point is that none of this is means-tested.

“Anyone in the community can come here because we should all be looking to reduce food waste and the food here, the wonderful food, is surplus food, which is sadly destined for landfill.

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“We had more than double the amount of people once we were in lockdown. Since we have moved from the free model, we have had a reduction in numbers, there’s not a hundred families here right now, but it is building week on week as more people find out about it.”

Over the second lockdown period, the free food boxes will not be provided, however, the larder will operate as normal, and the team are bracing for an increase in weekly visitors.

Ms Kenyon said: “We expect an increase, but not necessarily quite as substantial as before.

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“It is important to note that the free boxes had no choice, you took the box and that was it, whereas this is a choice.”

Scott Crawford, deputy head at the school, added: “We are investigating doing a delivery service and we would love to be able to do this.

“Even if it is not a long-term thing, we would love to be able to do this over lockdown for the most vulnerable in our community.”

Volunteer and teacher at MCS Louise Mehrabian said: “We are much more at the heart of the community here [in the community centre].

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“In its current form, what is really fantastic is that we get to spend a little more time with the members.

“Before, when we were giving the boxes out it was literally a hand out of boxes.

“So, what has been really nice today is a lady here was telling me a lot of detail about her family, and something that had happened within her family, and it was really very personal things, and that’s one of the things I enjoy most about the larder: it is not just handing out food, it is more than that.”

Oxford City Council has also been sponsoring the larder, and Helen Pike, master of the school, said: “The city council has helped sponsor us to stay in the community centre.

“We were really appreciative: they really helped us out.”

People who would like to sign up to become a member of the larder can visit www.sofea.uk.com.

The larder will continue to run throughout the second lockdown.