Dorset community group offering free food says demand for its services is higher than ever

A community group in Dorset which offers free food to those in need says demand for its services is higher than ever.

Volunteers from Bournemouth Recycle collect leftover food from supermarkets and then announce what's available on the group's Facebook page.

On Christmas Eve hundreds of people turned up for the giveaway, which included turkeys and still fresh vegetables.

The aim of Bournemouth Recycle is to save items from landfill.

• Watch Sharon Valler from Bournemouth Recycle speaking to ITV News Meridian.

The Facebook group has thousands of members and is helping hundreds of people by distributing surplus food over the Christmas period.

Sharon Valler from Bournemouth Recycle said: "Definitely more demand this year. We're a lot more well-known now, the group is growing every day so a lot more people are coming along to the distributions which are three times a week.

"We did have a little bit less food this Christmas than last Christmas, even though we collected from more supermarkets, so that's a good sign that less wastage is coming from the supermarkets.

"We were still able to help a lot of people and hopefully everybody left with something."