More than seven tonnes of food was donated to Braintree Foodbank during harvest festival collections.

Schools, churches, community groups, companies and individuals gave enough to provide meals for about 700 people for three days.

Spokesman Sarah Maddox said: “We rely solely on food donated by the public and we cannot thank people enough for supporting the foodbank again this year with their harvest festival collections.

"Since we opened in April 2012, together we have helped to feed over 6,000 people.

"The food parcels give individuals and families three days worth of meals to help them during a difficult time.

"People are referred to the foodbank by various agencies and we now work with 50 agencies across the Braintree area to help people facing food poverty.”