A Wiveliscombe charity that provides up to 500 meals a week for people in need, has just celebrated two years at its ‘incredible’ base in the town’s popular pub.

Wivey Kitchen, started during lockdown to help vulnerable people, carried on afterwards and moved to The Bear Inn in May 2024, after the owners offered the former pool room when it needed a new home.

“It is now an incredible catering facility and they have been massively generous to us,” said Wivey Kitchen founder and chair Kate Benson.

“They put in electricity and water, an extractor, gave us space and storage, built a lean-to, and we had the ovens and equipment amassed over the previous years.”

Now with 77 active volunteers and four head chefs, Wivey Kitchen handles 80 kilos of food a week, preparing nutritious meals from food donated by FareShare, the national charity that saves good food from going to waste and redistributes it to charities.

Meals are prepared each week and a co-ordinator organises deliveries, while people can also collect from freezers at churches in Wiveliscombe and Milverton.

The charity works together with the doctor’s surgery and village agents, local community-based growing project Wivey Grows, local charity Wivey Cares, and the local schools.

People also refer themselves, and although they are not means-tested, are encouraged to pay if able to.

“We find they come and go - someone may have been discharged from hospital and needs support for a bit, or may be out of work and struggling to feed their family, then they get a job.”

The charity also started Wivey Kitchen Pantry, a pop-up shop in Wiveliscombe where 160 kilos a week of food donated by FareShare can be bought on a membership scheme. It has 40 families involved, on a £5 a week membership scheme.