Representatives from Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) have been in Ruddington today to see at first hand the impressive progress made by a village initiative launched last Easter with the primary aim of reducing food waste in our community.
Since then, project founders Carol Jaggers, Gwen Eyre and their volunteers have been opening the doors of ‘The Ruddington Pantry’ twice a week to hand out good quality, surplus food, free of charge from local food retailers (especially Ruddington Co-op) plus village gardeners and restaurants. Residents have also been encouraged to donate to the ‘community fridge’ by dropping off any items from their cupboards they won’t be able to make use of before they go off or reach a ‘best before’ date or, in many cases, donate surplus home grown produce from their garden or allotment.
Mayor of Rushcliffe Cllr Tina Combellack and RBC Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Communities and Climate Change Cllr Abby Brennan (pictured top) attended this lunchtime’s usual opening in St Peter’s Rooms (Wednesday 11th January) to witness for themselves just how popular The Ruddington Pantry has now become – and also to celebrate the purchase of an additional chest freezer using ‘Reach Rushcliffe’ funding to enable donated food to be stored for longer.
“I am so impressed with what they are doing here” says Cllr Combellack. “Food waste is very close to my heart and I’m appalled in this country at the way we waste it. I was horrified to investigate the amount of food wasted by manufacturers, growers and large retailers. We seem to have lost the value of growing something and eating it, and we’ve got to go back to basics. Maybe the situation we’re finding ourselves in at the moment is going to drive people back to basics, to value things more? I’m amazed at all the fresh food here – and they now have these fridges and freezers, which is fantastic; a modern invention which is helping with the food waste. What these volunteers are doing is absolutely amazing – and look at the number of people coming in!”
Although a ‘community fridge’ can also be of help to individuals or families struggling with food poverty, unlike NG11 Food Bank its primary purpose is environmental – to stop perfectly edible food going into landfill. Since 6th April 2022 it’s been estimated that The Ruddington Pantry has so far prevented 5.3 tonnes of food from being wasted – a statistic which co-founder Carol Jaggers is very proud of.
“I’m absolutely over the moon!” beams Carol. “It just goes from strength to strength every week, and we love every minute of what we do. We’re all volunteers, and Ruddington Parish Council give us the room for free. But it has got to the stage now we do have to pay a small contribution to a charity called ‘Fair Share’ so we can meet the demand for fresh food each week for all the visitors that come in. We also need to have insurance and money for packaging – so it’s a continual search for where we can raise the funds from next?!”
One recent valuable addition to the St Peter’s Rooms lounge is the new chest freezer (installed alongside their original ‘Community Fridge’) which was made possible by ‘Reach Rushcliffe’ funding last year.
Cllr Brennan explains: “This funding is particularly aimed at tackling isolation and loneliness across the Borough. The Ruddington Pantry brings people together – and follows a weekly Coffee Morning here. It helps to reach out to people feeling lonely or isolated in the community, bring them together and help them keep warm. What’s not to like?!”
She adds: “The fact that Ruddington’s got great people like Carol and Gwen, and other local volunteers, who’re prepared to give up their time to set something like this up, and then make it happen, is just brilliant!”
The Ruddington Pantry opens twice a week in St Peter’s Rooms on Church Street: Wednesdays from 12.30pm until 1pm and Sundays from 4pm until 4.30pm: for anyone to donate and collect items which they feel they can make use of. So please call in!
