A KIND-HEARTED Mossley pub landlord has showed his community spirit with a donation to the town’s food bank.
Wesley Howard, who runs the Tollemache Arms on Manchester Road, handed over £500 raised through a raffle run over the Christmas period.
Now that money will help those in need in the area, some of whom are almost literally on the doorstep.
Lindsey Tweed, of Mossley Food Bank, said: “It’s gone really busy here.
“In the weeks running up to Christmas, we sent out in the region of 200 parcels, which is more than the year before.
“And we’re getting more people coming to us. We’ve received funding to help people with a one-off payment towards their gas and electric bills.
“What we’re also finding is donations are going down as many of the people who would normally give something are struggling themselves.
“So a donation like this is brilliant for us. It will really help people.”
Wesley added: “I wanted to do something a bit different with the pub. I did the raffle and people asked, ‘Is it for charity?’ It was but I wasn’t going to announce the charity until we knew how much we’d raised.
“We had three hampers but a regular who comes in also donated two more. We raised £312 and after I announced it was for Mossley Food Bank, one of the lads who comes in with his friends said, ‘I didn’t realise there was one.’
“He disappeared, didn’t tell his girlfriend or friends where he was going, came back and had a word and said, ‘Can you make sure this £100 reaches them please?’
“He wanted to give back and I personally rounded it up to £500. We’re going to do something similar heading towards Easter too.”
Mossley Food Bank is now trying to set up boxes so people can cook meals, rather than fill them with individual food items.
And it is looking for items like noodles to go with soups and items that can go to things like a Bolognese sauce with pasta.
Meanwhile, Wesley is celebrating after the Tollemache Arms was named one of brewer Robinsons’ Best in Glass award winners, for the quality of its beer and ales.
He added: “It is testament to the whole team that we have been given this award and I cannot thank them all enough for their hard work and professionalism.”
*ANYONE wishing to donate to Mossley Food Bank can do so at the food bank, at The Rowans, any of the drop-off points around the town – including the Co-Op and St Joseph’s Church – or you can contact Lindsey Tweed through Facebook.