HUNDREDS of pounds were raised for a Bridport food bank at a church concert last week.

The Bride Valley Band and Zoe Cary performed at St Mary's Church, raising £550 for the Cupboard Love food bank.

Cupboard Love aims to provide food and advice to the homeless and families struggling to make ends meet. The food bank is run every Wednesday by a group of volunteers from St Mary’s Church, with donations available for the vulnerable homeless people and families referred to Cupboard Love by social services and other agencies.

Volunteer experts on housing, physical and mental health are also on hand to offer advice to help the families and the homeless gain greater independence and move forward positively.

Reverend Andrew Evans, who manages the Cupboard Love food bank, spoke at the concert for the need to reach out to our vulnerable families.

He said: "The need is increasing as austerity bites.

"We are grateful for the donations of food we receive. However we also need to purchase other food to ensure a healthy balanced diet is provided. The £550 raised at this concert will ensure our vulnerable families can be supported for another five weeks."

David Powell from The Bride Valley Band explained that they are a campaigning band, performing to support groups that work within the Bridport area.

He said: "We are a group of friends that sing original songs from our area reflecting the times we live in.

"The Bride Valley Band aimed to help Cupboard Love by providing an opportunity to raise awareness of the injustice being served on the genuinely disadvantaged and by helping raise funds towards the £6,000 to £8,000 that is needed annually to run the Bridport Cupboard Love drop-in centre and food bank.

"Our song, ‘Starfish’ is about taking small positive actions locally to contribute to making a difference globally to injustice. There are huge numbers of displaced and vulnerable children across the world. Bridport is a brilliant town to live in. It is full of citizens who take small positive actions to improve the lives of others more vulnerable than them."