A day of action is being held to raise awareness of the scale of food poverty in Lowestoft.

Bridge View Information and Advice Centre, the East Suffolk Foodbank and Gunton Baptist Church have come together to provide cooked meals and advice to people in need on Thursday.

Their aim is that no one in Lowestoft goes hungry on World Food Day.

The group is working alongside the Lowestoft Trinity Methodist Church and St Andrew's Church to highlight the extreme levels of poverty impacting single adults and families in Lowestoft.

In the past 12 months, the East Suffolk Foodbank has provided more than 37,600 meals to people in need - a 167pc increase since last year.

During the day of action, three site across Lowestoft and the surrounding area will be providing a cooked meal and a dessert and advice for people suffering from food poverty and have been referred by local services.

They include Bridge View in Commercial Road, Gunton Baptist Church in Montgomery Road and St Andrew's Church in Roman Road.

Stuart Jennings, centre manager for Bridge View, said: 'The rising cost of living, high unemployment, debt and welfare reform issues have increased the need for emergency food parcels as people and families go hungry in our community.

'We plan to feed 120 people on the day and bring our community closer together by linking people in to support services and organisations.

'Those attending have been referred by local services and will be offered advice as part of the event.'

The project is being support by the Suffolk Foundation, East of England Cooperative and Bookers so far, with other local supermarket's expressing their interest in supporting the event.

For more information on the project and the group's work tackling the causes and needs driving food poverty, contact Stuart Jennings on 07817872405 or email on Stuart.Jennings@accessct.org.