After being based at Thornbury Baptist Church for over ten years, North Bristol & South Glos. Foodbank, is on the move in Thornbury. With the church’s major refurbishment project due to start at the end of April, the Foodbank team was facing the challenge of finding suitable premises to operate from until the work is complete.
After considering several options that proved to be unworkable due to location, available space, and accessibility issues, Turnberrie’s Community Centre came to the rescue. The new venue offers a lovely welcoming area large enough for Foodbank volunteers to continue preparing food parcels, storing donations, and most importantly, meeting with clients.
There will be no change to the current food bank Friday afternoon opening times of 1:30 pm - 4 pm, with the first session in the new home being Friday, 3rd May 2024. The food bank is likely to remain at Turnberrie’s until the end of the year.
The Trustees of Turnberrie’s are very happy to extend a warm welcome to the Foodbank, and appreciate the valuable service it provides to the community. They look forward to helping the Foodbank team settle in to their new temporary home.
Turnberrie’s Community Centre and its facilities are easily accessible to everyone, with convenient car parking available opposite the building on Rock Street and disabled parking spaces outside the centre. As a non-profit charity, Turnberrie’s is committed to reinvesting all funds back into the centre and the Thornbury community.
The Foodbank extends its gratitude to Turnberrie’s Community Centre for its support during this transitional period.
New location: Turnberrie’s Community Centre, Bath Road, Thornbury BS35 2BB from 3rd May 2024
The foodbank provides emergency meals for 3 days to people in short term crisis.
Click here to read our 2023 end of year update, issued in January 2024.
The crisis can be the result of problems such as benefit delay/withdrawal, separation, unexpected bills, debt, bereavement or redundancy.
It's a service for local people in short term difficulties, to remove the worry of feeding their families while problems are sorted out.
The Thornbury outlet is a Thornbury Churches Together initiative, with volunteers from all Thornbury's churches running it and donating food.
The North Bristol Foodbank is part of The Trussell Trust's UK wide foodbank network.
For more information about the North Bristol and South Glos Foodbank, please call 0117 472 5172, email or visit nbsg.foodbank.org.uk.
To access emergency food support from the local foodbank in South Glos, you will need to be referred by a frontline professional support service (those who work in the health and social care bracket).
If you are not sure who to contact or this is the first time you have needed a voucher for Foodbank please contact:
You can also be referred via your GP or local Health Centre and a Housing Officer, Support Worker or Social Worker.
Click here to see the latest Shopping List.
You can drop off donations in the crate behind the tills at Tesco or on the Thornbury Baptist Church steps on Fridays between 9.00 and 11.00am.
Food is collected by churches, schools, businesses, other groups and from the public by collecting outside supermarkets.
The food is sorted by type and date and stored ready for use.
Care professionals allocate vouchers to people they encounter at work who need food.
Vouchers are issued online and sent to North Bristol Foodbank electronically. We receive those for clients in our area and the client is texted an appointment time between 1.30 and 4pm on a Friday at Thornbury Baptist Church.
While the parcel is prepared, trained staff talk to the client to see how else they can help, e.g. with debt advice or by liaising with official agencies.
This is a typical example of a client:
If, twelve months ago, someone had told me that I’d be relying on a Foodbank to feed me, I would have laughed at them; life was going swimmingly.
Then, out of a clear blue sky, I found myself handed a series of events that were both unexpected and out of my control. I found my income cut off with, sadly, my financial commitments remaining. Before I knew it, I had mere pennies in my bank account and no food in my fridge.
Whilst I’d assumed that the welfare state that I’d paid into for years would help me, I found that I’d been pretty much hung out to dry. Every Government and Local Authority avenue I tried proved to be hopeless. Quite simply there was nothing available in the system for people like me.
By the time I found the foodbank, I hadn’t eaten for three days and I was desperate.
If I’m honest, there’s far more embarrassment than pleasure having to go cap-in-hand to a food charity. That said, they treated me with understanding, compassion and moreover, like a human being.
@mythornbury