Ludlow has a reputation for good food and fine dining. We want to build on this to include taking a fully rounded view on food production, preparation, waste reduction and equality of access.

Hands Together Ludlow is leading the way in the town by building networks and a food community but we already receive more surplus fresh food than we can use in our community kitchen at Helena Lane. The nearest community fridges are 30+ miles away in Shrewsbury and Telford.

With more and more people feeling the impact of the cost of living increases, the Food Hub and community fridge will enable us to distribute more surplus without stigma or question. It will be open to all, easy to access will increase our reach across town. The Food Hub will also provide meaningful volunteering opportunities so the community is really involved with helping itself.

We plan to expand to cooking surplus food to stock the fridge with fresh, nutritious meals and expand our donation base to local businesses, farmers, shops and food producers. We will also be able to increase the number of weekly supermarket collections and use and share the freshly grown vegetables from allotments we are offered each year.

The fridge and Food Hub will become the focus of our new community building where we will create food packs and recipes encouraging people to cook simple, healthy meals and find new ways to use their own surplus.

We plan to find new and innovative ways to grow - in time we may be able to provide practical help for young people to learn new skills, enter the hospitality industry and so support the businesses in town.

In fact, the fridge and Food Hub will be the springboard into many other opportunities and projects, bringing together local food and hospitality businesses and residents in a mutually supportive and proactive way. Together we can identify what we need and how to meet it in the years to come.