Cost of living crisis: Volunteers see 'noticeable' surge in demand for Christmas dinner deliveries

• Video report by ITV News Anglia's Andy Ward

A group of volunteers who deliver Christmas dinner ingredients to people in need say that they have never seen such a huge demand for their service as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.

The Norfolk-based Buckingham Emergency Food Appeal, which has been running for 37 years, pack boxes of produce which are donated by local farmers and businesses.

The containers are then delivered to around 220 charities in East Anglia and beyond.

Volunteers have spent the lead-up to Christmas getting the boxes ready for collection at Roudham Farm near East Harling, Norfolk, and the food will help feed 17,000 people who could otherwise have gone hungry.

"We've noticed that people are approaching us much more," coordinator Ken Smith said.

"A larger number of new charities have come along. We all know that inflation is high, so we know that the cost of things is very high now. There's a very noticeable change this year."

The appeal was founded by Norfolk fruit farmer Mike Buckingham in 1985 following a visit to London with his children.

His daughter saw some homeless people sleeping under Waterloo Bridge and urged her dad to help them.

Mr Buckingham then managed to pull together around £750 worth of fruit and vegetables from fellow farmers, and delivered the boxes to a homeless charity to enable them to cook Christmas dinner.

More than three decades on, the appeal is still going strong, and it's estimated that this year's batch of food and other essentials is worth more than £120,000.

The service relies on the hard work of members of the local community, including military veteran Andy Richardson who also volunteers at a food bank in nearby Thetford.

Mr Richardson has been volunteering in Thetford for the last 12 years, but has never known a Christmas quite like this one.

"The need, truthfully, is just getting worse. The need at the Thetford food bank has just gone through the roof," he told ITV News Anglia.

"The number of people of turning up is going crazy and it's people you wouldn't expect to be in that situation.

"We've had student nurses come in who can't afford to feed themselves and travel to do their training. It's just a crazy world sometimes, but we just do our bit as best as we can."

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