DURSLEY has the greatest food poverty in the Stroud district, with a fifth of users of a charity foodbank coming from the town.

Since last April, 483 people from Dursley have received over 4,800 meals from the Stroud District Foodbank (SDF).

In total 2,399 people used the foodbank between April 2012 and March 2013.

Dursley’s hidden hunger was highlighted in SDF’s preliminary end of year report and foodbank manager Will Mansell admitted the numbers for Dursley were a shock.

"We knew that it was a busy part of the foodbank," he said.

"But to see such a high number of referrals does show the reality of food poverty in the town.

"People would be upset to know how many people in their community couldn’t feed their children."

Stonehouse was the next busiest area with 303 users and in Cam, 154 people needed food handouts.

Part of the Trussell Trust, SDC has branches in Dursley, Stroud, Stonehouse and Wotton-under-Edge.

Kathryn Palmer, who helped set up the Dursley branch in December 2011, said they offered crisis intervention rather than long-term solutions.

People must be referred to them by frontline care professionals and are given a maximum of three food vouchers per 'crisis'.

Each voucher provides nutritionally balanced dry and tinned food for three days to provide emergency relief without creating dependency.

Foodbank users cited delays or changes to benefits, low incomes and debt as the main reasons they were struggling to put food on the table.

In many cases volunteers in Dursley help the working poor as well as the unemployed.

People surviving on a low income can be easily tipped into a crisis by illness or family breakdowns, as was the case with one Dursley foodbank user who struggled when his partner left him.

"It’s taking months to arrange the correct benefits for me and the children," he explained.

"The people here have been amazing and I will be eternally grateful to them for all the support I’ve been given."

Mr Mansell said the demands on their services were bigger and bigger every day.

But for the Dursley foodbank user, who preferred to remain anonymous, SDF was a lifeline at his lowest ebb.

"Without them my children and myself would not have coped," he said.

"This has filled me with hope."

Dursley Foodbank is open on Mondays and Thursdays at the Tabernacle URC.

For information or to donate, see Strouddistrict.foodbank.org.uk or call 07725 874231.