A £1,350 grant from the Gannett Foundation UK has been presented to Trowbridge Community Area Future to help provide a new community fridge.

Alison Phillips, news editor of the Wiltshire Times, handed over a cheque to Zoe Meaden, the TCAF hub manager, TCAF manager Meg Aubrey and volunteer Geof Downton, on Tuesday (February 11).

It will enable TCAF to widen a doorway at its community hub in The Shires Shopping Centre and provide access for disabled people to use a new community fridge.

Ms Meaden said: “Trowbridge Future are proud to announce the arrival of a community fridge at the Community Hub@BA14 in the Shires Shopping Centre in Trowbridge.

“Initially a pilot will run for two months where food donated by Greggs will be distributed to the community every Thursday between 10am and 1pm.

“We envisage the fridge to be a success and hope to expand the offering over more days in the coming Months.

“We are proud to support Wiltshire Council and their pledge to become carbon neutral by 2030. In October 2019 Wiltshire Council were named the most climate friendly council in England and Wales by Friends of the Earth.

“We are positively supporting this pledge by distributing leftover food to the people of Trowbridge, ensuring that items from the fridge will go to the people who need it most.”

Gannett Foundation UK is the charitable arm of Gannett Co Inc, the American owner of the Newsquest Media Group Ltd, which publishes the Wiltshire Times and its sister papers the Gazette and Herald, the Swindon Advertiser and the Salisbury Journal in Wiltshire.

TCAF will stock the fridge with food donated by individuals, local food businesses and supermarkets for use by the whole community.

Ms Meaden added: “The fridge will also be supplemented by a community larder for non-refrigerated items.

“We would like to spend the grant on a large fridge to accommodate the food donations. Also, we want to install a door so that the space can be locked when the community fridge is closed.”

TCAF has already collected food donations through its links with Neighbourly, a giving platform, and local supermarkets, which it distributes each week to local children through its youth clubs and at the Trowbridge Skate Park.

Ms Meaden added: “We are aiming to further develop these and other potential links to obtain more food donations.”

Trowbridge Environment Group has agreed to provide volunteers to supervise and stock the fridge.

Wiltshire Council, Selwood Housing and The Shires shopping centre are backing the project and have provided strategic advice and guidance.