The Garden Cafe in Manzil Way, off Cowley Road, is run by mental health charity Restore. The cafe aims to offer a friendly, welcoming place to relax within its gardens as well as invaluable training for those who use its services. On May 7, the cafe received an unannounced visit from food hygiene inspectors from Oxford City Council and were awarded with a five star rating. The cafe was given a score of ‘very good’ for the category of ‘food hygiene and safety’ and a mark of ‘good’ for the categories ‘structural compliance’ and ‘confidence in management’. The cafe provides people with mental health problems the opportunity to learn catering and customer service skills, as well as getting work experience.
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FOOD BANKS and community larders across the county are calling for systemic change to how food poverty and food insecurity are both perceived and managed. Recent figures from the Trussell Trust, a charity campaigning to end the need for food banks in the UK, showed that between April 2020 and March 2021, during the pandemic, compared to the same time the year before. Jane Benyon, who founded CEF said: “We are certainly having higher levels than previous years. “We almost trebled our figures at the beginning of the pandemic, doubling over Christmas and the three or four months of winter.” She added that there had not been a dramatic rise in families needing food packages, but clarified that this may be because a lot of schools were providing food parcels.
By Gill Oliver and Anna Wagstaff Covid poverty is going to get worse before it gets better HUNDREDS of families in Oxford devastated by the coronavirus crisis are still struggling to put food on the table, community groups have warned. Since the first lockdown in March, a wave of restrictions, furloughs and job losses has swept through the city, leaving many on reduced or no income. An army of volunteers stepped forward to help deliver food parcels and collect prescriptions, in what was thought to be a short-term emergency. But nine months on, the picture remains bleak for those reeling from job losses and unable to afford food, fuel and other basic essentials.