Despite snow and biting cold, families formed a queue outside the Pickle Palace in Chopwell.
The former mining community in Gateshead was once nicknamed little Moscow because of strong support here for the Communist Party.
It now looks like a Soviet scene, with figures shuffling to keep warm in the snow. Image: Gateshead was once nicknamed little Moscow because of strong local support for communism
Grassroots charity workers here are noticing something that is being observed up and down the country; that there is a new section of society looking for help: the working poor and it is their children who are suffering most from the closure of schools.