It is a sorry state of affaires...

...that so many folk in the UK are needing to resort to food banks to make ends meet.

Not the sort of thing that you expect to see in this day & age - but unfortunately, a fact of life.

For the last few years a colleague of mine has organised a food bank collection at the office and this year was no different.

I set up a decorated collection point for him and keep an eye on the progress - keeping it tidy and highlighting items that we could do with more of.

This was the collection point for this year...

 ...the WRMK Alphabet punch board came in handy...

 ...and we had a good selection of festively decorated boxes ready to take the donations...

...and it didn't take long for those boxes to fill up...

 ...these photos were taken at the start of this week...

...but by yesterday when the goods were packed up to take to the food bank, you couldn't get anywhere near the original boxes (sorry, no photos as my camera battery went flat).

Folk in the office who were not able to purchase anything themselves were very generous in making donations for the "Big Shop" - over £300 was given in addition to the donated goods. This meant a group of colleagues headed off to the local supermarkets and did a mahooooosive great shop which was subsequently deposited by the collection point until arrangements could be made to get everything to the food bank. An army of staff then assisted in loading everything into a couple of office cars (it was a tight fit) and it was delivered to the food bank yesterday afternoon in time for the organisers to make up the Christmas parcels that they do each year.

As a Nation we really shouldn't be in a situation where folk are having to rely on food bands just to survive but hopefully, for those who find this a reality it is hoped that our efforts will help a little to brighten things up at what can be a very difficult time of year.........................................