A local society has donated items equivalent to more than 250 meals to The Trussell Trust’s Wisbech Foodbank, as well as 40kg of further items to Littleport foodbank.

Tina Day-Coombes, social organiser at Capital of the Fens Oddfellows, arranged the collection at the group’s Outwell and Wisbech coffee mornings in February.

She was inspired to do so after her daughter, who volunteers at The Trussell Trust’s Wisbech Foodbank, told her they ran short of food this time last year.

Tina said: “Everyone is happy to give donations at Christmas but they are needed all year round. I am immensely proud of the members that donated, some more than once too.

“Knowing that those who need it most are going to benefit from our members’ generosity is a lovely thing.”

Among the items the group collected were dried pasta, tinned goods, rice, crisps, biscuits, toiletries and pet food.

Margaret Gibbs, project manager at The Trussell Trust’s Wisbech Foodbank, has thanked the group for its “generous support”, adding that the 110kg of food donated “equates to approximately 262 meals”.

Stan Spinks is both a volunteer at The Trussell Trust’s Wisbech Foodbank and a member of Capital of Fens Oddfellows.

He said: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to my fellow Oddfellows for their generosity, and specifically Tina for organising the donations. We’re in need of as much as people can give.

“For those who are able to donate, we also have collection points at the local Tesco, Asda and Morrisons stores.”

The friendship group’s members donated around 40kg of further items at its coffee morning in Littleport, which has been given to the foodbank organised by St George’s Parish Church in the coming weeks.

The Capital of the Fens Oddfellows hosts a variety of accessible and inexpensive meetups and social events and are open to all.

March’s coffee mornings are arranged for Wednesday 6 in Outwell, Wednesday 20 in Littleport and Thursday 21 in Wisbech.

To find out more about Capital of the Fens Oddfellows and its upcoming events, contact Tina on tina.day-coombes@oddfellows.co.uk or 07751 777 862. Go to www.oddfellows.co.uk for more information.