During this election Tamworth is being painted as a town that is in dire straits by some with an agenda to do so, like well, election candidates and our gang of local Facebook trolls (Hi Brina!). We like pretty much any town in the UK these days have a number of food banks, which some would say we should not need, that is another story.
Use of facilities that are not actually food banks like the Tamworth Pantry which in fact charge for food are shooting up, but why is this? These facilities lack the stigma that is being called a ‘food bank’, because you have to pay, and you don’t have to be referred by the job centre to use it. It is certain that there are people in dire straits that need the food banks as a safety net, which is not a great situation to be in as a society, and we can only hope that whomever wins the parliamentary election in Tamworth makes a point of addressing this with the Government. However, with the existence of effectively heavily discounted volunteer run shops, is it possible that people in many cases are in fact using places like the Pantry as an alternative to the supermarket for savvy shopping? In the words of one resident who got in touch to highlight this “why wouldn’t you look to save!”. Why wouldn’t you indeed.
So when politicians are using places like the Pantry to point score and paint a picture of a deprived impoverished Town, is that really the case, or is it that mostly, our residents are being clever and realising they can make a substantial saving? It is certainly food for thought.
