This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky speaks to a local family who suddenly found themselves without enough money to buy basic supplies.
Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.
“People were really shocked to find out we were struggling. We had struggled very quietly.”
Ickle Mills and her partner Paul Hobrough were managing well until 2021.
He worked as a refrigeration engineer, while she had two jobs: one at Hotel Chocolat and the other at the Odeon.
Suddenly, a change in circumstances meant they were struggling to afford even the basics.
“It surprised a lot of people we went to Resurrected Bites. On the outside, to look at, Paul has got a fairly good job.
“I had gone on maternity leave at work and I hadn’t realised having two jobs can be problematic.
“All of a sudden, we were hundreds of pounds down a month on what I would have earned.
“We were at the point of incurring a lot of debt. Thanks to Resurrected Bites, we didn’t. It was the only thing that kept us from having to fall into quite bad debt.”
With a young son to look after, the couple were struggling to afford to feed themselves.
Paul and Ickle became customers of the community interest company’s New Park Community Grocery in Harrogate. They paid £3 a week for a shop of around 20 items, including fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned food, and toiletries including nappies.
The counters at the community groceries show how many of each kind of item can be bought in each shop
Ickle said:
“We could do our food shop there and get stuff for the baby.
“I had real problems breastfeeding and had to buy powdered milk. One of my items [from the grocery] was a £12 tub of baby milk.
“If we hadn’t been able to use them, we would have gone really short. We went short as it was, but it meant we could get stuff for ourselves.”
Not only did it help the family out financially, it also became a community for Ickle while she was on maternity leave.
The warm welcome from grocery manager Sophia and volunteers helped her out on days when she was struggling.
She has also got to know many of her neighbours better through going to the grocery, and has been able to bring food she may not have got while shopping on a budget elsewhere.
As a result, son Kenobi has been able to try all kinds of new tastes, and Ickle knows she is also helping to reduce the “ridiculous” amount of perfectly good food going into landfill.
Read more:
- Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: ‘My life collapsed like a wicket’
- Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: Making hearty meals from food waste
Now, Ickle is giving up her own time to help run the grocery, covering shifts when others are unavailable.
She is back at work and the family still receives Universal Credit, which also allows them to get help with the costs of childcare, enabling her to continue in the jobs she loves.
Her experiences have made her a passionate advocate of spreading the word about organisations like Resurrected Bites and being honest about how many people are relying on them.
She said:
“It’s the state of things now, and how much all the bills are going up is a massive worry to everybody.
“A lot of people are far too proud to say, especially in this town.
“I know my situation isn’t nearly as desperate as some others. I think the more people that talk about using places like these, the less people will be reluctant to use them.”
Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas.
It costs £300 to run the community grocery for one day. Please help to keep it open for everyone who relies on it.
Click here to contribute now. Thank you.