THE Malvern Hills Foodbank was as busy as ever over the Christmas period, say organisers.

Figures on usage of the foodbank during the holiday will not be available until next week, but the demand for its services was certainly no lower than last year.

Dot Hayes of the foodbank said: “I can’t say yet how many people we helped over Christmas, but what I can say is that we had a tremendous response to our appeal for donations in the run-up to Christmas.

“We were certainly as busy as last year.”

Among those who contributed were students from the Chase school, who donated 240kg of food, toiletries, household goods and Christmas gifts.

Malvern Town Council donated £500, and district councillor Natalie McVey donated a further £250 from her personal allowance.

Mrs Hayes that demand for the foodbank’s services is likely to continue to remain high in the new year, especially with the introduction of the new Universal Benefit.

She said: “That has been the experience elsewhere in the country where universal benefit has been brought in, and we fear we will see the same thing here.”

A list of items that are needed is available on malvernhills.foodbank.org.uk and on its Facebook page.

Over in Worcester, the city’s foodbank, says that this Christmas was the busiest to date, with an increase in demand of 22 per cent on the same period last year.

The charity has warned that it may have to find an additional 30,000 meals over the next 12 months to cope with the increase in people coming through its doors