A WOMAN who never forgot what it meant to her family when they received a food parcel after her father died and her mother was left with four little children to care for is retiring as co-ordinator of the West Somerset Food Cupboard.

Christine Payne, 70, took over running the charity six and a half years ago, and it went on from its local Alcombe base to cover the whole of West Somerset.

“I’m devastated to leave,” she said.

“I’ve loved every moment, but I can’t carry on as I’m finding it physically very challenging – the boxes are not getting any lighter and I’m not getting any younger.”

The numbers of parcels, though, are always on the rise.

In 2014 the charity supplied £60,000 worth of food in the form of over 1,500 food parcels. In 2015 that figure had risen to £80,000 worth and this year it expects to have sent out over 2,000 parcels.

“At Christmas time we do our best to bring Christmas joy to struggling households by supplying not only our basic parcels but also lots of tasty treats, and we decorate them with tinsel and baubles and a hand made card.

“Just to be part of such a project is so very humbling – we could not do what we do without the support of the community and their generosity continues unabated,” said Christine.

For her, the work also has a great deal of personal meaning.

“It goes right back to 1951 when my father died at 32, leaving my mother with four little ones to feed. Having no immediate family to help, she often went without food in order that we children did not go hungry. ...

**ANN Gibbs, from Porlock, has been appointed to take over from Christine.