Age Concern North Norfolk to build bigger kitchen to feed 800 a month

The charity offers a meals-on-wheels service for the older people it supports

A charity plans to build a bigger kitchen and hire extra catering staff so it can make more hot meals.

Age Concern North Norfolk said there had been an exponential jump in demand for its service since the end of the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The charity said it planned on spending £91,000 on its expansion at its base in Sheringham over the coming months.

Centre manager Anneliese Maerz said she had "no choice" but to revamp the catering facilities.

The charity said it produced about 400 hot meals per month for people it supported in 2021, but said this was expected to double to more than 800 per month by the end of this year.

'We will struggle'

"We will struggle to keep up with demand even for our food-related services that we see as the core of our offering," Ms Maerz added.

"We have had no choice but to revamp our catering facilities to include a new, larger kitchen and double our current catering staff."

Mark Danson-Hatcher, chairman of the charity's board of trustees, said the action was "essential" to future-proof its services.

Age Concern is a UK-wide charity offering various services and aims to maintain independence for older people.