HART council officials have been busy currying favour for the local foodbank.

They organised a charity dinner last Monday at the Hook Tandoori restaurant as the first course in a fundraising campaign.

The foodbank is the chosen charity of Hart District Council chairman Alan Oliver. Residents, businesses and other organisations paid £20 a ticket to join the feast, with half the proceeds passed on as donations.

The popular event attracted 42 people and raised £905.

Mr Oliver said: “This charity supports the most vulnerable in our community, and having events like this raises the profile of the fantastic work that they do.”

The Hart foodbank provides a minimum of three days emergency food and support to local people in crisis. Schools, churches, businesses and individuals donate non–perishable food.

Most of the local supermarkets are involved. Volunteers give shoppers a ‘foodbank shopping list’, and ask people to buy an extra few items for the needy.

In 2015, the figures showed that 1,084,604 people received emergency help from Trussell Trust foodbanks. Nearly 400,000 of them were children.

This represents a massive increase on the totals in the years before; 346,992 in 2013, and just 25,899 in 2009. So the number of people short of food rose by more than 40 times in just six years.

Hook Cllrs Brian Burchfield and Mike Morris said: “We are pleased that the chairman of Hart chose the Hook Tandoori for this worthy charity event.

“The restaurant is one of the finest in Hart and the staff are very accommodating. A good time was had by all and the event raised over £900 for a worthy cause.

“We would like to thank Neeloteal Mitra, the manager of the Tandoori and his staff for looking after us so well."

For more details, visit hart.foodbank.org.uk and trusselltrust.org.