Charity Manager stars in The Morecambe Bay Podcast 

Charity manager Phil Tarney has made his claim to fame recently, first appearing on Beyond Radio and now The Morecambe Bay Podcast! 

The Morecambe Bay Podcast has been running since 2021 when journalist Nigel Thompson decided to pursue the project during the pandemic. It now has over 100 episodes and covers a wide range of topics in the local area including the Morecambe and Lancaster Lancashire Open Water Swimmers, the Eden Project North and of course our beloved football team The Shrimps!

We’ve now joined those episodes. Titled ‘Behind the Scenes at Eggcup’, Phil gives Nigel a tour of the depot, and explains more about the operational side of things. On the surface, it’s easy to think that we simply have two outlets and a pop up, but there’s actually quite a lot that happens behind the scenes – we’re bustling! Phil discusses some Eggcup statistics and gives listeners an overview of all the things we do to make sure surplus food ends up in the community, not in the landfill.

Please give the podcast a listen (it’s free!), and support Nigel as he continues sharing what makes Morecambe Bay so special. 

Thanks for having us, Nigel!

 

Eggcup Fundraises with Local Choir 

With thanks to Hum Holler ‘n’ Sing for having us!

On a chilly December night, local community choir Hum Holler ‘n’ Sing performed their Christmas set in Dalton Square. Led by musical director Jude Glendinning, Hum Holler ‘n’ Sing have been performing in the community for many years at many different venues, from the Priory to the Judges’ Lodgings. Eggcup volunteers Robin and Laura joined them this time alongside Phil, fundraising and talking with the public about Eggcup’s situation and our involvement in the community. Thank you to all involved!

For more information about Hum Holler ‘n’ Sing  (and if you fancy joining them for some choir practice)  please visit their Facebook page or YouTube Channel. 

 

Three Pallets of Pasta Down… And another TWENTY TWO to go!

Stephane with just a small amount of pasta filling all those crates…

Warehouse Manager Stephane, with the help of some fantastic volunteers, have been working hard bagging up the many pallets of surplus pasta we have stored at Kidds Warehouse. When working with surplus, you come across food in many different pack sizes. These are catering boxes. We’re currently managing to process a pallet a week – approximately 640 bags of pasta portioned into individual 1kg bags weekly! To the right, you can see Stephane with crates of newly packaged pasta, processed in our own food safe prep room.

“I checked a couple of boxes on every pallet and, unfortunately, it’s all farfalle… If ever the opportunity for surplus pasta comes about again I’ll have to check with them if it’s farfalle on offer” – Stephane (and his positivity!)

 

Christmas Cheer and Thanks!

Chaos setting up in Carnforth for the Christmas collection!

We continued our tradition of a Christmas Collection this year, which was on the 23rd December for Carnforth and Christmas Eve for Lancaster and Morecambe. Due to the financial crisis, the collection was £5 this year though we had lots to offer! For Christmas, our members received a chicken or vegetarian option, pigs in blankets, stuffing, cheese, a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, a sweet treat and more. We also offered a range of pantry items and different fruit and veg to cover Twixmas! 

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has made this possible – West End Morecambe (WEM), Skipton Building Society and Carnforth Pharmacy for their donations, Blackpool Big Food Project who sent us lots of organic root vegetables and carrots, Ruth – Community Champion at ASDA – who helped us procure the stuffing, Dewlay who have donated cheese, and Sainsburys for their donations straight to the Lancaster depot. With this help, we were able to give the wonderful Eggcup members a bigger and better collection.

 

Eggcup Receives Funding Boost

And now what you’ve been waiting for – if you haven’t already heard… It is with great pleasure that we can tell you we now have enough funding for us to operate until the end of April. We were facing closure at the beginning of January – our Christmas collection was to be our last. But the fantastic community has rallied around us! We’ve got a lot of hard work still to do, but thanks to everyone who has donated to our Saving Eggcup GoFundMe campaign, West End Morecambe (WEM) and Lancaster Council, and thank you for the support from CAB, LDCVS, Lancaster District Food Justice Partnership, Blackpool Food Bank, members of the public and local businesses that helped spread the word, and of course Eggcup’s absolutely fantastic volunteers. We have enough to keep us going a bit further. We want to keep doing what we’re doing and we are grateful for every day we can continue to support Carnforth, Lancaster and Morecambe. We have now closed our GoFundMe Campaign.