Volunteers racing to save surplus Silverstone food

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When there are 564,000 fans packed in to see the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it can mean a lot of uneaten food goes to waste.

But not when about 50 volunteers from the Towcester Community Larder, in Northamptonshire, spring into action.

Last year they carried out a number of pit stops to collect 32 tonnes of unused food, and this year they were in pole position to do the same again.

Since Sunday they have raced to save 15 tonnes of food and the larder's Katie Steele expects the large collection of "weird and wonderful" items to continue to go up its leader board of donations.

The community larder offers a membership scheme whereby the surplus produce can be bought at discounted rates, and Steele said the volunteers had been trying to "save as much food from the bin as possible".

"When you've got that many people coming through the doors inevitably there is stuff that is destined for the bin, unless we can step in and rescue it."

She said it was the sixth year they had undertaken the task at the circuit, which had the largest race weekend attendance in history for a Formula 1 event this year.

Steele said they had finished sorting the first load of food at about 01:00 BST on Monday before returning to the circuit just a few hours later. The pick-ups are expected to continue until Thursday.

"We need to get the food out as soon as we can before it perishes," Steele said.

"We have lots of lettuce and salad items but also the weird and the wonderful.

"I've seen the most obscure mushrooms you've ever seen, I've never seen mushrooms like it."

Steele added: "We have all sorts of cheeses and fish and meat, but mostly fruit and vegetables.

"Even canned water, pop and lots of milk, ice cream and 5,000 eggs.

"You never know what you're going to get when you open a fridge."

The items will be available at the Riverside Resource Centre, external, Islington Road, Towcester, on Monday from 18:30, with the remaining stock to be offered at the larder's regular sessions on Wednesday from 16:15 to 17:00 and Thursdays from 10:00 to 11:15.

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