Skip to content

'Without FoodCycle I would live off soup kitchens'

Emma Baugh & Katy Prickett
BBC News, Peterborough
Emma Baugh/BBC Bobbi-Leigh Taylor-Arthur who has short greying dark hair and is wearing a faded black sweatshirt over a black T-shirt. She is standing in a community hall-style building with a window on its right and panelling behind.Emma Baugh/BBC
"There's no judgement, you can walk in, there's help - and you become friends with the people here," said Bobbi-Leigh Taylor-Arthur

An unemployed woman who receives a three-course hot meal from a food charity once a week has described it as "a lifeline".

Bobbi-Leigh Taylor-Arthur is one of 56 people who attend a community meal made from surplus food organised by Peterborough FoodCycle.

It served 3,112 community meals last year, an increase of 49% on the previous year, according to organisers.

Ms Taylor-Arthur said: "I'm so grateful for places like this - without it, I would basically be living off the soup kitchen every evening."

Emma Baugh/BBC A table covered in an orange wipeable tablecloth with white dots. It is laid for meal with knives, forks and spoons, as well as salt and pepper. At each laying is a banana and tomato. People can be glimpsed milling around in the background.Emma Baugh/BBC
FoodCycle Peterborough is one of the charity's biggest projects, serving more than 3,000 meals and saving 14 tonnes of surplus food from being binned

"I suffer with addiction, which I'm getting help with, and unfortunately suffered a relapse which meant I lost my full-time job, so this place is a lifeline," she said.

"Once I've covered my bills, my rent, it leaves me with £100 a month to cover toiletries, food, clothing, everything - and it's a struggle on £25 a month."

Emma Baugh/BBC Maggie Bointon, wearing a blue food-safety net over her hair, glasses and a red T-shirt. She is in a kitchen and is leaning over a stainless steel counter, reaching towards a pile of bowls. In front of her is stainless style pot from which steam is rising.Emma Baugh/BBC
Maggie Bointon said she and her team served "a nice nutritious meal" once a week, but demand was high and they often had to turn people away

FoodCycle Peterborough has been running for nine years and is one of the national charity's biggest projects.

Across the East of England, it served 17,643 community meals in 2024, a 33.5% increase on 2023, saving 53 tonnes of surplus food, it said.

FoodCycle's head of marketing Carly Shutes added: "We know over 40% of our guests don't own an oven, so for a lot of people it's the only time they get access to a hot meal.

"I think it's devastating actually - access to a nutritious meal is a basic human right."

Emma Baugh/BBC Rex Birchenough who has short white hair. He is wearing a pink, collared shirt under a red jumper and is standing in a community-hall type building.Emma Baugh/BBC
Rex Birchenough said he had noticed the numbers of street and homeless people going up and he hated turning them away, but the service could only cope with 56 meals a week

Rex Birchenough, Peterborough project leader, explained that the charity sourced supplies from supermarkets for food which was in-date, but was due to be thrown away.

"We create a hot meal - usually soup, a main and a pudding - served at the table, treating people like human beings," he said, adding the meals were always vegetarian, so were suitable for people with any dietary requirement.

"We don't question anyone who comes here, some are lonely and live alone, some have no home and are sleeping in a tent and some have no cooking facilities.

"When you stick a family in a hotel with a kettle, how can a mother feed them?"

Emma Baugh/BBC Stanley Coutinho who is sitting down in a community-hall style building. He has a black fleece hat on his head and white hair can be glimpsed. He is wearing black-framed glasses and and a purple padded jacket, zipped up to the neck.Emma Baugh/BBC
Stanley Coutinho said the community meals were "a boon" that eased the "strain on the little money I get"

Stanley Coutinho used to work for the Peterborough project until he developed a number of health issues, including diabetes and painful arthritis in "practically all the joints" in his hands.

"I can't cook at all, because I can't handle pots and pans, and I'm an amputee and have toes missing, so I find it very difficult to walk and balance," he said.

Now living in sheltered accommodation, he described the project as "a boon" for which "there is no amount to describe my gratefulness".

Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links