Due to an oversight during the packing of the foil boxes Kentish Town was left without any large foils for Sunday's service. This created a logistical nightmare for everyone on rota and volunteers were left with no option but to send out the meals in a selection of medium and small foils. Meaning that each meal consisted of up to four foils, creating confusion for everyone.

Kitchen volunteers had to package the food into a significantly larger number of containers than usual. The supervisors had many more foils and lids to count and label and found it impossible to fit them all into the hot boxes. And the deliverers had lots more foils to deliver, causing confusion on the doorstep. This ultimately meant a stressful day for everyone concerned.

Despite the difficulties the Kentish Town volunteers all mucked in together and got the food out as required. A true team effort. So a big thank you everyone who was on rota that day: Lead cooks Jenny Greenghalgh and Elizabeth Nkhoma; supervisors Orsi Faludi and Rosa Parker; kitchen assistants Catherine Blakemore, Linda Cooke, Harriet Ferner, Peter Haman, Brenda Han, Oscar Ignatius, Iris Petsas, Nuno Pires, Peter Robinson and James Turnbull; drivers Gerard Beakey, Lobo Chan, Denysse Edwardes, Judith Goodman, Michael Lee and Stephen Morley; and navigators Beth Anderson, Nayomi Kasthuriarachchi, Iain McNaughton, John Pengilley, Dawn Phelps and Susan Tuttle.

Thank you to you all.

Disturbingly an increasing number of service users were living with a food budget of less then £20 (25.3%, up from 22% in 2007), and 45% had very limited social contact throughout the week. On a more positive note, 49% of service users cooked food for themselves on at least one occasion during the week.

Click here to download the full results as a word document

Emily has been volunteering with The Food Chain since October 2006. She has been a lead cook at Highbury for the past 15 months. When not volunteering with us Emily loves watching her husband studiously make marmalade; taking her toddler to the British Museum to hear him exclaim, "Wow, that's AMAZING" in every room; Mad Men; black bears; toasted hot cross buns and peanut butter (but not together).

Her message for fellow volunteers is "thank you for making the coffee first thing in the morning. Thank you for turning up, having a go, and coping with any crazy stuff that gets thrown at you during the morning. And thanks for coming back, week after week!"

Thanks very much to Emily for doing such a good job.

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Bobby was leading the kitchen team at Bermondsey on Sunday 27th. He arrived at the kitchen to discover that the shoppers had been unable to purchase most of the meat, and some of the other ingredients, that were needed for the menu. Rather than panic, Bobby, with the assistance of kitchen assistant Jeremy Heard, went out shopping for the remaining ingredients. A small tweak to the menu, to make it more compatible with the food that they were able to purchase, meant the food still went out before noon. A remarkable feat given the significant delay that having to go shopping first thing in the morning caused to the service.

Bobby has been a volunteer with The Food Chain since December 2007, helping out as both a kitchen assistant and kitchen lead at our Bermondsey kitchens.

Judith has helped out with various activities over Christmas. Firstly, she helped our lead cook with the shopping on Christmas Eve, before mucking in with some food preparation that evening. She then helped to transport volunteers to the kitchen on Christmas Day, followed by some more food preparation. More shopping was to follow on Boxing Day, when many of the large supermarkets were closed and a lot of time was required to visit a lot of smaller shops. A sterling Christmas effort was topped off with another stint of kitchen help on 27th.

Judith has been a volunteer with The Food Chain since December 2001. Not only has Judith been our longest serving rota coordinator (as many of you will know), but she is also regularly seen on the delivery rota at Kentish Town.

A big thanks to both of you.

10th January
14th February
14th March

The Food Chain also gives training in

Health and Safety (21st March)
HIV Awareness (6th March)
Lead Cook Training
Supervisor Training
Rota-coordination Training

If you are interested in coming along to any of these sessions please contact Chris by clicking here

"It's very calming chopping vegetables and chatting" (Kate, Volunteer at Hammersmith Kitchen)

Please note that all kitchen volunteers must pass an annual Food Hygiene quiz to assess for retention of key food hygiene message. Food Hygiene Training is also available for anyone who is interested The Food Chain provides this for volunteers free of charge. All lead cooks and supervisors must complete the Food Hygiene training course.

Our very sincere thanks to Reverend Simon Grigg and all at St. Paul's church, as well as to the host of volunteers, particularly Adrian Platt who made last night happen.

As always the evening was rounded off wine and mince pies supplied by Konditor and Cook, which helped to raise £571.28 for The Food Chain. Merry Christmas to everyone from The Food Chain and to see you into the season here is a special poem written by our General Manager, Andrew Davies especially for the occasion. Click here to read the poem.

please click here to visit Osborne Clarke

please click here to visit Abbott

Over the weekend three kitchen assistants dropped off rota at short notice leaving the team a rather short of volunteers for the Sunday morning. Despite this set back, and even though he was new to the Hammersmith kitchen, Clyde was able to lead his team to produce all the meals (including the extra Kentish Town route) so that they were ready to go out on time. A true demonstration of effective and productive team work.

Thanks very much to you all.

Across the UK, 7,298 people were diagnosed, last year. Over 83,000 people were living with HIV at the end of 2008, of whom over a quarter were unaware they had HIV. The two groups most affected remain gay and bisexual men and black African heterosexuals. Three-quarters of people diagnosed were among these two groups. 2,790 new diagnoses were among black African heterosexuals, with an increase in the proportion acquiring their infection within the UK. 2,760 gay and bisexual men were also diagnosed.

Late diagnosis of HIV remains a serious challenge in the UK. Over half (55 per cent) of adults diagnosed were diagnosed after the point at which it is recommended treatment begin. Late diagnosis of HIV can have a serious impact on an individual’s health. 73 per cent of those with HIV who died last year had been diagnosed late. And evidence shows late diagnosis drives HIV transmission, with more than half of new HIV infections caused by people who themselves are unaware of their infection.

New research by HPA and NAT (National AIDS Trust) highlighted in the report estimates it costs between £280,000 and £360,000 to treat and care for someone with HIV over their lifetime. Preventing the infections acquired in the UK, and diagnosed during 2008, would have reduced future HIV-related healthcare costs by £1.1 billion.

Deborah Jack Chief Executive, NAT (National AIDS Trust), comments:

“HIV is one of the most serious health challenges in the capital. It is shocking to think more than 1 in every 200 Londoners have HIV. This means that there are likely to be on average 5 HIV positive people on every rush-hour tube.

In London, more than anywhere else in the UK, it is crucial we have effective HIV prevention programmes. All Londoners need to look after their sexual health, and all Londoners with HIV should be supported and treated with respect.”

There were many highlights on the day, including Martin's rendition of "You raise me up" which he dedicated to Viagra, though he admits by the time he was singing "Touch My Bum" by The Cheeky Girls many hours later he did wonder if he could take much more! But the team pulled together and ten hours after they started they had helped raise £2,732.34 for The Food Chain and lost their voices in the process.

Massive thanks to all the singers, as well as Lucky Voice (click here to book your karioke party!) and Refugee Action who hosted the event - click here to see their website

Unfortunately at both Hammersmith and Bermondsey a driver had to drop off rota on Sunday morning due to unforseen circumstances. Mark was lead cooking at Hammersmith and Lorna was supervising at Bermondsey. Rather than place the burden of a driver shortage on other volunteers, both opted to go out and drive despite having already done a hard morning's work as part of the Sunday service.

Mark has been volunteering with The Food Chain variously as a lead cook and driver (and also as a former trustee) since November 1999. When not volunteering with The Food Chain he loves most things from the 80s, hugs from his boyfriend and roast chicken with all the trimmings ("Christmas is like the FA Cup final for me as you get the king of roast dinners!"). His messages for fellow volunteers are "enjoy your volunteering experience and make the most of it through friendships made and skills picked up. Thanks to the great team at Hammersmith, it is always good to see them."

Lorna has been volunteering with The Food Chain variously as a supervisor and driver (and also as a former Chair of Trustees) since September 1992.

Thank you to both of them for their wonderful support at the weekend.

This dinner is part of a series of events to highlight the 21st Birthday of The Food Chain.

Allegra, a Food Chain patron, will be joining volunteers at our Hammersmith kitchen to cook a meal for people living with HIV who may be malnourished, just left hospital or in a severe financial situation.

We are delighted to have Allegra’s support in what is a fantastic opportunity to highlight one of the vital services that The Food Chain delivers.

For press please click here to email Rhiannon McCorkindale