Victoria Park Local Pantry

Kate Franklin oversees the amazing work of the Victoria Park Local Pantry.  She joined Victoria Park Community Centre as part of her work experience from the Women’s Work Club. Initially, she helped with the pantry’s paperwork, but soon found herself passionate about all the pantry’s work. Kate loves interacting with the community and playing a role in reducing food waste. Her work experience led to her taking over as the pantry’s coordinator, where she has developed their provision along with the community centre team.

Victoria Park Local Pantry is part of Victoria Park Community Centre in central Bridgwater.  The pantry is held in a portacabin outside the Centre.  It is run mostly by volunteers, with some support from Kate (although she sometimes volunteers herself!).  The volunteers are a diverse team, from the local community and are all passionate about the pantry.  The overall aim of the Pantry is to reduce food waste.  It is lovely that they can also help people with the cost of living crisis, but the primary aim is to reduce the amount of food waste.  Members pay £3.50 a week and get up to £20 per week in food.  At the moment it is harvest time, and they have recently had a lovely lot of surplus fresh vegetables to distribute, including potatoes, tomatoes and courgettes.  They get regular donations from Yeo Valley, as well as local supermarkets alongside their weekly Fareshare delivery. 

Established in February 2023, the pantry has grown and evolved rapidly. They have moved the money collection outside the portacabin to make it a more social space and plan to relocate inside the foyer during colder months, where members can enjoy tea or coffee for £1. The communal space fosters connections between members, allowing them to swap recipes and socialise. The portacabin has limited space so whilst people wait their turn it has encouraged more conversations and engagement among members.

In addition to their food waste reduction efforts, they have secured funding from Suez and Somerset Council to host monthly waste reduction events, including clothes swapping, cooking classes, and sessions on reusable personal care products. These sessions will continue until the end of March, allowing the community to learn and engage in sustainable practices. 

Victoria Park Local Pantry joined the CAG Network because: “We wanted to get to get to know new people and get involved with networking and sharing of ideas. We don’t want to be us on our own – we want to get involved with people from different organisations.  We were already involved in the food pantry network but want to learn from a wider range of groups”.  The CAG Network provides connection and opportunities to learn about events happening across the County as well as receiving news and updates.  Kate took an active part in our “Action for Somerset” event in May and really enjoyed the day.  Kate has also found the impact data tool useful that CAG provides for them from the figures they submit.  She has recently used their impact figures when talking at a food conference. 

Looking to the future, Kate says; “We would like to expand to 60 members”. Currently they have a waiting list, and the pantry is becoming more popular as more people find out about it.  They currently support 30 members.  They are looking to increase their storage space to accommodate new people.  They are working with Seed of Hope to improve the outside areas and have planted herbs and kale. Seed of Hope also provide brilliant tips for growing your own food.

The pantry is working to increase the use of sustainable containers – encouraging people to bring their own with them rather than using plastic.  This also enables people to take what they need, rather than give the same quantity to everyone.  Some things they receive in bulk, such as rice, pasta and tea bags.  They received bags of 1,000 tea bags, which need to be broken down into more manageable amounts.  The pantry encourages members to return punnets and bring back egg cartons.  They want to build on this, encouraging people to be more sustainable when they use the pantry and in other areas of their life. 

Kate wants to make the pantry even more welcoming and cosy.  The volunteers are lovely and create such a welcoming, inclusive space for people.  They would like to see members come along and take a clipping of a plant to grow at home and encourage everyone to live more lightly on the planet, as well as pushing the community side. 

Kate hopes that together, the pantry and the community centre can host more events and partner with other organisations to expand their reach and impact, focusing on family cooking events and broader waste reduction initiatives. Ultimately, the goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive environment that fosters community connections and promotes sustainable living, with a clear focus on reducing food waste.