Daily Mirror - 30.08.2019

mirror.co.uk FRIDAY 30.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^27

DM1ST

@realbritainros

Ros Wynne-Jones standing up for you and your family

Ruffle feathers

...in a good way

Today is #PositiveTwitterDay, which

sounds like a contradiction in terms for

anyone who’s been on Twitter recently.

But that’s exactly why we need it.

I’ll be speaking at the launch at

Twitter HQ about our groundbreaking

Britain Talks project, and what we’ve

learned about disagreeing better with

each other.

Positive Twitter Day was invented in

2012 by British Future’s Sunder

Katwala (@sundersays), himself no

stranger to receiving racist abuse on

the platform.

While Twitter needs to do more to

stop trolls, we must also hesitate

before tweeting something we would

not dream of saying to someone’s face

in social media’s version of road rage.

But it definitely doesn’t mean the

end of strong opinions. We’re living

through a political age when there’s

everything to fight for.

Follow us on @BritainTalks and

@realbritainros

6

Every week in this column, we

celebrate five companies willing

to pay the real Living Wage. This is a

voluntary rate set by the independent

Living Wage Foundation, which people

can actually live on – £9 an hour, or

£10.55 in London. This week we

particularly welcome the Future

Generations Commissioner for

Wales, Software Logistics Group in

High Wycombe, Bucks, Koestler Trust

charity in London, Soup Creative films

in Chester and Cardiff, and Stevens &

Bolton LLP lawyers in Guildford.

Have you or your family been

affected by the cuts? Or have you

been shocked by how your area has

been hit? I want to reveal what’s

really happening around the country

every week.

Post: Real Britain, Daily Mirror,

One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,

London E14 5AP

Call: 020 7293

3000 and ask for the

Real Britain desk.

Email: realbritain@

mirror.co.uk

In association with

Unite the Union

ror.co.ukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

REAL BRITAIN

Volunteer army of heroes

helps one million children

avoid hunger this summer

off my mum while she is at

work because she knows

I’m at school taking part in

sessions and eating lunch.”

Staff and volunteers from

companies including Luton

Town FC gave up their

spare time to help, and

sponsors include Vauxhall

Motors. Families were

invited to make a £1 donation per

child towards the project if they could

afford it.

“The fact that 52% of our pupils are

‘pupil premium’ children (government

money allocated for children from

poorer backgrounds) makes us one of

the poorest places in Luton,” says head

Gwyneth Gibson. “Most of the parents

are in work but they are struggling to

put food on the table.”

Jacqui Burnett, Labour councillor

and local branch secretary for Unite

Community says parents go hungry in

the holidays too. “We know this

because they make sure their children

eat before they do,” she says.

Back in Great Torrington, Unite

volunteers are hosting a free breakfast

club at the 1646 cafe named after the

famous civil war battle. The local

library has donated free activities. “I

for Department for

Education help, from

Birkenhead to Bristol to

Barnsley, saw their funding

bids rejected.

Into that breach during

July and August stepped

charities, trade unions, and

other holiday heroes. The

Tr ussel l Tr ust alon e

expected to hand out 100,000 food

parcels to children.

Meanwhile, after conducting a

survey of 1,000 Universal Credit

claimants and finding 79% of

parents struggled to make ends

meet during school holidays,

Unite Community launched

programmes across

the UK.

In urban Luton,

Unite volunteers

worked with Lea

Manor High School

in Marsh Farm to

offer food and

activities through

Summer Give Back 2019.

“My mum said I should

give it a go,” says pupil Sienna

Acheameong, 14. “I’m glad I

did. It has taken the worry

HELPING HAND Head Gwyneth feeding kids in the holidays at Luton school

work part time but do extra shifts as a

carer,” says parent Hannah Slade, 31. “I

have many friends struggling on

Universal Credit who I’ve told about

the breakfast club, but some people

feel ashamed because they want to

provide for their families themselves.”

Great Torrington is in Torridge, the

most deprived district of Devon.

Siobhan Strode says: “I’m a supply

teacher at a local primary school

and that was where I overheard

conversations between parents

worrying about how to make ends

meet during the holidays.”

“This is the rural reality – there are

massive pockets of poverty and there

is no social housing. People have to

rent privately.

“Delays with Universal Credit mean

some parents could be left without

money for six weeks, and the nearest

Jobcentres for Great Torrington are

either a six or 12-mile journey, which

makes it difficult for people to get to.

This often leads to benefit sanctions.”

In Luton, pupils Malachi George, 14,

and Michaela Hargreaves, 10 are

enjoying the food and activities.

“Summer Give Back has been all about

the community,” Malachi says. “I hope

this happens again next year.”

Over the next few days, the final

figures will come in for how many

hungry children have been fed by

volunteers this summer, but every

charity expects to it to be a record-

breaking number.

Meanwhile, families wait anxiously

to see whether a no-deal Brexit will

send food costs soaring even higher.

Additional reporting by Maryam Qaiser

IN idyllic rural England this

summer, as holidaymakers headed

to the North Devon coast, the

community in Great Torrington

was banding together to stop

children going hungry.

From free breakfast clubs to food

hubs, the historic small town – once

at the centre of the English civil war

• was determined no child would miss
  meals during the summer holidays.
  “Last month, the foodbank saw one
  of the busiest Saturdays in years,” says
  Siobhan Strode, a local teacher, town
  councillor and Unite Community
  chair for Devon.
  Meanwhile, a food hub at the Castle
  Hill Centre – where out-of-date grub
  collected by Fareshare was left in a
  larder for hungry families – was in
  constant use.
  “Although we don’t count how many
  families use the food hub, we know it’s
  well used,” Siobhan, 34, says. “Every
  loaf of bread we put out is taken by the
  end of the day.”
  This summer, in schools and
  foodbanks and holiday clubs across
  Britain, an army of heroes have been
  keeping children from hunger.
  Against a rising tide of poverty,
  charities and volunteers are expected
  to have fed around one million kids
  over the last six weeks, when there
  have been no free school meals and
  parents struggle with childcare costs.
  As the nation heads back to work
  next week, it’s clear the damage done
  to kids by summer hardship is not
  just to their health.
  A recent study by Cardiff
  University of 103,971 children
  showed those from poorer
  backgrounds were more likely
  to report loneliness as well as
  hunger during the
  summer holidays,
  and were less
  likely to spend
  time with friends
  or engage in
  physical activities.
  Yet this summer,
  the Department for
  Education opted only to
  support holiday hunger
  projects in 11 “pilot
  areas”. This meant 81
  organisations that bid

‘‘Parents are

working but

struggling to

put food on

the table

GRUB’S UP

Teacher

Siobhan

6

“I don’t believe it. I’m going

to die and I’m still not sick

enough for PIP.” The last words of

James Oliver, shortly before

dying of chronic liver disease. His

family said he died on April 6

before he could appeal the DWP’s

decision that he didn’t need

disability payments.

TELL BORIS...

Whatever you think about

Brexit, denying

Parliament the chance to

debate no deal and the

country’s next steps is a

coup against our democracy.

On Tuesday evening at 6pm,

thousands of people will descend

on Parliament to demand a general

election – and an immediate end to

the premiership of Tory nightmare

Boris Johnson.

The speeches will be led by

Labour MPs including Laura

Pidcock. Other demos will take

place in Newcastle, Chester,

Cambridge, Doncaster, Swansea,

Liverpool, Manchester,

Southampton, Birmingham,

Bristol and Cardiff.