A WEST Wylam charity has partnered with the church to reach more people in need.

The Miner's Lamp is hosting pop-up food bank events at Prudhoe Parish Hall.

Both venues already act as warm hubs for the town and were set up in response to the rising cost of living. 

READ MORE: The number of children in Hexham growing up in poverty

"We thought that to further support the people of West Wylam and Prudhoe, that we would start our first pop-up food bank, providing support for food and the cost of energy through our Household Support scheme", said project development worker at the Miner's Lamp Fiona Wardlaw.

"This is all part of working for the community to help people have a better quality of life.

"We also have a range of free or very cheap events on, so we try to make memories. We firmly believe that engagement is vital to help stop loneliness."

The Miner's Lamp warm hub opens Thursdays from 11am and the parish hall opens on Fridays from 12pm. The Miner's Lamp will be at the hall bi-weekly after March 10.

"The bags of food went in seconds and we could have had loads more", explained Fiona. "We did two household service requests, there were two requests for full food parcels to be delivered; it’s a case of food or heating. We even got two people to step up to volunteer."

Prudhoe Parish Hall's Free Food Friday is supported by Community Action Northumberland.

Coordinator Eileen McElearney said: "Our warm hub is targeted at local people who are having a struggle to keep warm, feeling increasingly isolated, needing social interaction, or finding the rise in the cost of living difficult."

It comes as the West Northumberland Food Bank, which runs out of Hexham, is appealing for donations.

Project manager Sam Gilchrist told the Courant: "We have been dealing with a big spike in demand over this winter and are starting to run low on stock.

"Very often people who turn to us for help are overwhelmed with the generosity of local people who donate food, on behalf of all the team and everyone we help, thank you."

There are 135 warm hubs across Northumberland.