DRAPED in tinsel and beaming brightly, Daisy May Cooper greets “angel” volunteers busy preparing food parcels.
The Bafta award-winning actress, and star of BBC’s hit sitcom This Country, joins them packing Christmas hampers for families in need this festive season.
Daisy — who grew up in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, not far from Stroud District Foodbank — visited the warehouse to support The Sun’s Christmas For All winter campaign.
We have been asking our readers to pop an extra non-perishable item in their trolley to help put meals on the table for those in need.
And we have joined with Tesco, so donations can be dropped off at your nearby store.
They will then be passed to charities Trussell, which provides packages for people facing crisis, and Fareshare, which distributes food to more than 8,000 worthy causes.
Stroud District Foodbank is part of Trussell’s network, and mum-of-three Daisy was delighted to meet the volunteers who help keep it running.
She said: “There’s such a sense of community and camaraderie. I think they are angels doing this.
“We’re so grateful to have people that really care. Places like this make all the difference.”
‘Packed with love’
More than 200 volunteers work year-round at Stroud District Foodbank, providing food parcels and financial advice where needed.
While they buy in 30 per cent of their stock, the rest is made up of donations, and they cannot do it without your help.
People referred to Trussell centres through bodies such as social services or churches can access resources six times in six months.
This year, Stroud’s foodbank has handed out 5,427 emergency food parcels and seen demand double since before the pandemic.
In the past, Daisy has spoken about growing up in “rural poverty” in Gloucestershire.
And she told how, before landing a commission for This Country — which she wrote with her brother Charlie — money was tight.
Daisy, who worked as a cleaner while trying to break into acting, tearfully recalled: “You just feel such shame and it cuts you off.
“I remember not seeing friends because I had to go and buy a tea or a coffee, which I couldn’t afford.”
Centre manager Amanda Strover told the actress how each family that receives a food parcel is taken through a questionnaire so that the package can be tailored to their tastes.
You just feel such shame and it cuts you off. I remember not seeing friends because I had to go and buy a tea or a coffee, which I couldn’t afford
Daisy May Cooper
More than that, it can help them feel part of the festive celebrations.
Amanda said: “We had a lovely young gentleman come to us, and he said he’d be excluded from Christmas as he was embarrassed to have people over because he had nothing in.
“Receiving one of our festive hampers really changed that. He said he was able to socialise because he had Christmas bits.
“He was able to give away the biscuits to a friend, allowing him to take part in gift giving.
“Each of our hampers, Christmas or otherwise, are packed with love and care. The feedback is amazing.”
Daisy also met Andrew Budd, 60, who has volunteered at Stroud for eight years.
- TINNED: Fish, meat, pies, veggie meals, veg, soup, beans, pulses.
- CUPBOARD: Cereal, dried pasta, noodles, rice, dried pot meals, cooking sauces, cooking oil, peanut butter, preserves.
- SNACKS: Dried fruit, nuts, biscuits.
- DESSERTS: Sponge puddings, tinned rice pudding, tinned fruit.
- DRINKS: Long-life juice, UHT milk, tea, instant coffee.
- TOILETRIES: Toilet roll, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant.
- XMAS TREATS: Selection boxes, Xmas puddings, festive biscuits.
He said: “I come here not just to serve the community, it’s also to be with other people because I felt isolated after retiring.
“It really has been one of the constants in my life.
“It has helped boost my mental health. Plus, it’s like coming to the gym. I calculated I lifted a tonne in one day moving crates around.”
Volunteer Simon Ives told Daisy: “We have a gentleman in his eighties who has an allotment and supplies us with fresh veg every week.
“We also have this wonderful little old lady comes in with her shopper.
‘Chaos and cheer’
“In the supermarket, if it’s buy one, get one free, she gets two and gives us the free one. It’s small things like that, but on a massive scale it’ll make a difference.”
Warehouse manager Peter Drover, 65, recalled how one bride and groom asked guests for foodbank donations instead of wedding gifts, adding: “They wanted to give to those who actually needed.”
Daisy exclaimed: “That’s amazing.”
Financial advice from P3 — a homeless prevention and social inclusion charity — is also offered at Stroud.
We had a lovely young gentleman come to us, and he said he’d be excluded from Christmas as he was embarrassed to have people over because he had nothing in
Amanda Strover
The foodbank funds P3 link worker Emily Godwin, 34, who said: “It’s about making sure people are able to stay in their houses, whatever the issue.
“It can be an eviction notice because they’re struggling to pay rent or access support. It can be helping them access forms which they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.”
Daisy finished her shift posing for photos with volunteers and doing videos as her This Country character Kerry Mucklowe.
She also vowed to return, saying: “I think Kerry and Kurtan [her screen cousin played by Charlie] would bring chaos and festive cheer here. Today has been really moving. You just don’t think in this day and age that this is needed. It is.
“I’d urge everyone, on their next shop in Tesco, to pick up one item and put it in the collection point. It will make a massive difference.”
