Category: Food Parcels

News and information from our community Food Parcels project.

Posted on

ASDA’s egg-cellent support for the foodbank!

Egg-citing news! ASDA in Farnborough are supporting the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project this Easter, by collecting donations of Easter eggs for us to give out to local families in the holidays. If you are shopping at Asda soon, please think of us, and pop an extra egg in your trolley to donate for a family in need.

Big thanks to Jenny, the wonderful new Community Champion at ASDA who has been instrumantal in making this happen, and huge thanks to all of you who donate for this wonderful cause. Thank you so much!

Would you like to know more about the Foodbank? Here is the link to our homepage: https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

#AsdaFarnborough #Community #Foodbank #EasterBlessings #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject

Posted on

Local Rotary supports the village Foodbank

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project would like to say a big thank you to the Rushmoor Rotary Club for their wonderful donation of £212 to support our local foodbank. We are a local food project run by St Mary’s church and the Ash Villages Support Circle, and we cover people in need of urgent food support, baby bank, and hygiene bank items in the 4 villages of Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. We hugely appreciate your support and these funds will go towards filling the foodbank parcels in the coming weeks.

Andy Pelham (pictured in the centre of the photo) represented the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team on the day, and was delighted to receive the donation from the Rushmoor Rotary Club.

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project grew from being a covid-19 support project originally, to becoming the local foodbank for our villages. In 2025 we delivered food to over 4,600 people! Clients are referred to us by social services, DWP, Citizens Advice, local churches and other agencies. Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, and generous donors, we can proudly say that noone ever needs to go hungy in our communtiy.

Your contributions will mean that we can be there for people in crisis in 2026.

Thank you for your support!

Posted on

Online giving – can you chip in and Give a Little?

Did you know? St Mary’s in Ash Vale is a relatively small church, but with a very big heart for our communtiy. We do not receive central funding but instead we are funded by church members, other generous donors, and some of our projects rely on grants and fundraising too.

This means that every year, we rely on local people – whether you come here on a Sunday or not – to help keep us to keep the church and our projects open for the community. Every cuppa, every hour of heating, every bulk delivery for the foodbank, every party bag, every leaflet, our water and electric, our staff – it all needs funding either by donations in kind or through generous financial contributions, so we can pay the bills. The joy in all this, is when we see the whole community coming together, to support this work for the community, in the community.

2025 was amazing! We delivered 1560 food parcels last year, feeding 4600 people. We served 30-40 people every week at community cafe and chapel cafe, welcomed 40+ people to the toddler groups each week, and saw many more friends old and new for church services, sundayschool, study groups, special church services… We also welcomed the whole community for Pancake day, picnic and play, Summer Fair, the light party and Christingle. We even managed to replace the ageing boiler, thanks to all of those who gave so generously. So we are already excited to see what happens in 2026!

2026 looks like a challenge financially though. We do very seriously need to ask you to please: review your financial support in 2026, consider carefully what you feel moved and able to give, and if possible make a commitment to donate regularly because this really helps us to budget and enables us to plan ahead. Your giving can keep our doors open and the community groups thriving.

We also need to say this – If you can manage to chip in, we do need help, but if you can’t this time, we of course understand too. Please do not worry if you can’t donate. Our groups and projects are for everyone, whether you can contribute or not. The beauty of church community life is that quite often these initiatives join up people with the time but no funds, and people with the funds and no time, those who can serve, and those who need help… and somehow it all comes together beautifully. Join in with what’s happening this year in whatever way works for you, and watch God at work!

Give a little donations link: https://givealittle.co/c/2BhuU1JZBDk3OoiZQKBAqk

Thank you for your support.

Posted on

Hygiene Bank – a very big thank you!

Did you know? The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project gives out 40+ hygiene bank items every week. We supply emegency kits with multiple items in them for clients in need, and we include individual hygiene bank items with food bank parcels, as required. We also supply baby-bank basics such as nappies, wipes and formula to young families who are stuggling to provide for their little ones.

Ash Villagse Food Parcels Project would like to say a great big THANK YOU to the thehygienebank.com who have started supporting us with donations of hygiene bank items to inclde in our parcels. Ths makes a huge difference to clients who need them, and enables us to be there for them with thinks like shampoo, sanitary products, toothpaste, deoderant – essentials that we might take for granted, but which are such a difficult thing to manage without when funds are tight.

Please join us in thanking the hygiene bank, especially their team in Farnham and the generous donors who have made it possible. With your help we can meet the growing need for help in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. You are helping us to bless ~100 people a week with these essentials. Thank you!

Hygiene bank website: thehygienebank.com

Need help?

If you are a local person in need in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green or Tongham you can be referred for a food parcel, hygiene bank or baby bank by the usual agencies: Citizens Advice, local schools, social services, DWP, local churches etc. If you have had help from us before you can contact us directly on the foodbank number on the back of your food parcel delivery label for additional help.

Foodbank website: https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

Posted on

Foodbank Appeal – Can you help us this year?

https://givealittle.co/c/64dXRNU3KdAy3Yzi1qRIv4

In 2025 the foodbank fed over 4,600 people, and cost over £33,000 to run. We know that this year it is likely that more help will be needed, as the local need increases. We have more people moving to the area, prices keep rising, and incomes are not keeping pace. A simple thing like having to replace a pair of school shoes, or fix a broken washing machine, can tip people into food poverty nowadays.

But this is why we are here, as a local safety net so that no-on in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green or Tongham need ever go hungry. Can you please help us to help our neighbours?

Please consider a regular donation for 2026. Our parcels go out every week, and so we have to buy in food every week to fill the parcels. Knowing that we have regular donations coming in helps us to plan, and it means that our Project Manager can focus more on signposting extra support for families to build resilience, and a bit less on trying to find the funds to fill the foodbank shelves.

Any amount you can afford will make all the difference. Whether you can afford £2 a month or £200 a month, you are important, you are part of something amazng, and you will be helping us to feed local people in crisis. What an amazing community this is!

Thank you for your suppport.

Donations link: https://givealittle.co/c/64dXRNU3KdAy3Yzi1qRIv4 Thank you!

Posted on

WI supports local Foodbank

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project would like to say a huge thank you to the Ash Hill Evening WI Meeting members.

Alex Sanderson (Project Manager) reports…

What a wonderful evening we had yesterday! I was very kindly invited to visit the WI for their January meeting at St Mary’s. The welcome was very warm, and it was lovely catching up with friends old and new – and some of our wonderful volunteers past and present as well!

I was delighted to give a talk about the Foodbank, and share the ups and downs of our journey with this ever-growing project. What started as an emergency response to people going hungry in Covid-19 has now become the go-to Foodbank for anyone in need in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. We fed over 4,600 people in 2025, and 128 households received a Christmas Parcel to bring some seasonal joy in difficult times.

Your support is so kind, and much needed. Huge thanks to the WI for your donation of £250, a fantastic amount raised throughout the year, which will go towards filling parcels with good food in 2026. Thank you too for the lovely donations of tins, packets and lovely treats which you all brought in yesterday. Every item makes a big difference to local people in need, and it is through your help that we can make this happen.

We welcome donations of anything with a long shelf life (tins, packets etc) throughout the year, and are always glad of any spare carrier bags for our food parcels to be sent out in. Most of you know where my porch is, open 9am-9pm for donations, or you can bring things and pop them in the St Mary’s church foyer any time you are here for a WI meeting. You can even use the donations basket in the Ash Vale Co-op. Thank you to all of you who downloaded the “Bank the Food” App, so you can always see what is most needed from week to week. https://www.bankthefood.com/ (If anyone missed the meeting here is the link).

The joy of being very much a grassroots project is that the community all knows one another, and it makes me proud to know that no-one need ever go hungry in our local villages, thanks to generous people like you. While we wish our project was not needed at all, we are glad that we can help our neighbours. In the words of one of our clients recently in their message to us “Thank you all so much, you have helped us more than you know”.

Happy New Year 2026, and on behalf of Revd Neil Lambert, Cllr Carla Morson, all the volunteer team and our clients locally – thank you for your support.

Alex

Alex Sanderson: projectmanager@ash-vale.org.uk

Ash Villages Food Parcels Project:

https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

Posted on

Foodbank: A very big Thank You for 2025!

We have just finished adding up all the foodbank data for 2025 for our project reporting, and thought we should let you all know what an amazing community you all are! Huge thanks to everyone who has donated items, given funding, packed parcels, sorted veg, helped with packing, gone out delivering, collected donations, helped with fundraising, given prayer support, cleaned the fridges, spread the word, and all the various aspects of making it all happen.

While we are sad that this project is needed at all, we can be proud that we have supported one another in the local community through another very tough year. In 2025 the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project provided 1560 parcels for local families, feeding over 4600 people. On average we gave out 29 parcels a week, feeding 384 people in an average month. In our Christmas Parcels week we helped 128 households, feeding 393 people and giving out toys to 199 children.

We can proudly say that no-one in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham need ever go hungry if they turn to us for help. We have an amazing community who donate items, fundraise, and give funds. We have a fantastic team of volunteers, and we have some wonderful local councillors, churches, schools, clubs, organisations, businesses and grant funders who support the work. Between you all, you have made this happen. The thank you messages we regularly receive are a testament to how important this work is. One recipient said “Thank you so much, …you have helped us more than you will ever know”.

On behalf of the Foodbank team and our local community – Thank you!

Would you like to give your support in 2026? The need has never been greater, as the community keeps growing and the cost of living keeps rising. If you can manage a regular donation it would be an enormous help, or just give what you can when you can. Here is the online giving link: https://givealittle.co/c/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c

Do you need help? You can contact the usual agencies for a food parcel referral, or come to St Mary’s church and ask for Revd Neil Lambert or Alex our Project Manager for a church referral.

Posted on

Christmas foodbank update 2025

ChristmasFoodbank we have just a few days to go before the Ash Villages Food Parcels Projects volunteer team delivers the Christmas parcels to local people in need this year. If anyone is yet to donate, we are ok for mince pies and cranberry but we still need Christmas puddings, custard, treats and lots of stuffing mix please. We will also be needing over 200 tins of all the basics (beans / sweetcorn / tomatoes / tuna / meat etc) so all donations will be very gratefully received! Thank you everyone.

Donations can be dropped off as follows

St Mary’s church, Ash Vale,Surrey. (Vale Road) – donations box in foyer:
Friday (today) 10:00-13:00 (cafe open)
Sunday 14th 10:30-12:30 (church open)
Sunday 14th 6:30-8:00pm (open for the carol service)

The Ash Vale Chapel (Wharf Road)
Donations can be dropped off to the Foodbank Team directly
Friday (today) 8:30-9:30am
Monday 15th 8:30am-2:30pm
Tuesday 16th 8:30am-2:30pm / 6-9pm
Wednesday 17th 2-5pm
Thursday 18th 6-9pm

Or you can drop items off in Alex’s porch (project manager) 9am-9pm any day throughout the year. Pm for the address.

Thank you everyone 🙏💕

This is us:

https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

Posted on

Christmas 2025 you’re invited!

Christmas Invitation 2025


Saturday 29th Nov—Christmas Chill-out 14:30-16:30 at The Chapel (Wharf Rd) Join us for festive fun, cake sale, hotdogs, raffle, free kids craft, hot chocolate and more.

Saturday 6th December St Nicholas Day Lantern Walk. Set off from The Chapel (wharf Rd) at 16:45pm, for an atmospheric lantern walk to St Mary’s on Vale Rd, visit St Nicholas at St Mary’s from 17:00 and enjoy the food, friendship and fun. Text to book: 07730 609446


Sunday 14th December Carols by Candlelight 18.30 Come and share the joy of singing our favourite Christmas Carols by candlelight at this very special service at St Mary’s, (Vale rd) followed by mulled wine (alcohol free available) and a mince pie.


Wednesday 17th Dec Carol Singing at Ash Vale Station Come and bless our commuters with carols! 18:15-19:15


Saturday 20th December Christingle Journey Event (time slots every 10 minutes from 16:00-18:00) Make a Christingle, visit the Innkeeper for a drink, see the Wise Men, follow the star, enjoy the bonfire with the shepherds, and see baby Jesus. Not forgetting Revd Neil’s amazing food! A Christmas adventure at St Mary’s (Vale rd) in aid of The Children’s Society. Text to book 07730 609446


Christmas Eve 24th Dec Midnight Mass 23:30 Come and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the first communion of Christmas. Let’s rejoice!


Christmas Day 25th Dec: Christmas Service 10:30 Join us to celebrate our Lord Jesus’ birth. Children welcome, bring along your favourite gift to show & tell!


Christmas Generosity: This year we are asking for donations of Christmas treats and toys for the Foodbank please, also fundraising to support vulnerable communities in Uganda, and donations to bring some Christmas cheer to local Asylum Seekers & Refugees. To donate for any of our projects you can follow the link to see the projects donations list, donate in church, bring items in when we are open, or
contact us on 07730 609446.
Donations link: https://givealittle.co/c/61UABfqeCHjdTftgDlrsnD Thank you!


Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas

Posted on

Christmas Chill Out at The Chapel 29 Nov 2025

Christmas Chill-out at At The Chapel
Saturday 29th Nov 2:30-4:30pm
The Chapel, Wharf Rd, GU12 5AY

Pop in and join us for Christmas Craft Activities, Hot Chocolate bar, Christmas Bakes, and some fundraising fun for The Chapel and Foodbank. Try your luck with the Golden Bucket, guess the weight of the Christmas Food Hamper, have a go at Christmas Card Stamping and Make a Lantern for the St Nicholas event on 6th December. Hotdogs for tea, before you go to see Santa switch the lights on in the village. Why not visit Ash Fantasia too, before you come to us? Don’t miss it, come and support The Chapel!
https://www.ashvalechapel.com Facebook @AshValeChapel