Vineyard Community Centre and Foodbank. Image: Tom Hill

In recent years growing poverty and inequality in this country has resulted in more and more people turning to foodbanks for help.

Handouts by foodbanks have more than doubled since 2012, and in the last year alone nearly 10 million free meals were given out.

To find out more about food poverty in London, I visited Richmond Foodbank in South-West London where I spoke to some of the volunteers about how serious the issue is and who they help.

Housed in the Vineyard Community Centre, Richmond Foodbank also features a range of facilities including a garden and cafe.

Vineyard Community Centre. Image: Tom Hill

Manager Caroline Ferrier explains some of the other services they provide:

What are some of the reasons for Britain’s growing problem with food poverty?

Richmond Foodbank is part of the Trussel Trust, one of the largest providers of emergency food in the country managing 40% of the nation’s food banks.

But as an entirely voluntary organisation what sort of support do they get and is anything being done at government level?

To find out more about some of the people helped by the foodbank, I spoke to Anton to get his story.

For information and help to do with foodbanks, see the Trussell Trust’s website.