Business helps Melton schools’ food bank

Mowbray Education Trust set up the food bank at John Ferneley College 10 weeks ago in response to the struggles some parents are going through during the ongoing pandemic, through losing their jobs and having reduced working hours.

Staff at Melton Learning Hub have also helped with the venture, with provisions being donated by local food production company Melton Foods, part of the Samworth Brothers group, as well as the Company Shop supermarket at Braunstone Frith in Leicester.

Liam Weekes, the school’s alternative provision manager, told the Melton Times: “Without the help from Melton Learning Hub and Samworth Brothers, our food bank wouldn’t have been possible and many of our families would have really struggled throughout this very difficult period.

“Our families are so thankful for what we have been able to offer and we have been able to help more than 100 families across our trust each week.”

Families from schools across the trust, which also manages The Grove and Brownlow Primary Schools in the town as well as some village schools, are entitled to one parcel a week. Parents who have benefitted have been very appreciative, the trust says.

Mark Samworth, a director at Samworth Brothers, said: “It has been a truly difficult year for everyone and I am pleased that we are able to help, even if it is only in a small way.

“More importantly, we thank the schools for the fabulous work they are doing to provide a lifeline to people in our community – it is hard to think of a worse conflation of issues, all of which will impact on those least able to ride them out.”

In another venture operated by the trust, a special stationery bus has been touring the town and stopping at specific locations to enable families to pick up books, pens and notepads for their homeworking studies.

Schools in the trust family will reopen to students on March 8 as part of the government’s gradual relaxing of Covid restrictions.