Cardiff’s recently elected Lord Mayor, Graham Hinchey showed his support for food waste charity FoodCycle last night by rolling up his sleeves and volunteering at their recently opened Project in the city’s Riverside area.

With the help of his wife, Lord Mayoress Anne Hinchey, they joined a team of local volunteers to create a free meal for the community made from food that would otherwise have been thrown away. The Lord Mayor and Mayoress happily got stuck in, setting up and laying the tables ready for FoodCycle guests, made up of local residents including refugees, families and regulars to the Wyndam Street Centre who come every Wednesday at 6.30pm to enjoy a free, three-course vegetarian meal made from donated surplus food.

FoodCycle Southwest Regional Manager, Alex Hatherly says: ”It was fantastic to welcome Graham and Anne to FoodCycle Cardiff Riverside last night. This is our third Project in Wales, and we are extremely proud of how the local communities have embraced our free meals. Last night was a great turnout with lots of hungry guests to feed, so it was amazing to have the Lord Mayor and Lord Mayoress volunteer to help out!”

The Lord Mayor and his wife also stayed for the meal, tucking into a feast of cucumber salad and roasted aubergine, veggie sausage stew with roasted potatoes and chocolate brownie with apple compote.

FoodCycle is a national charity that aims to make food poverty, loneliness and food waste a thing of the past for every community. The recent launch of FoodCycle Cardiff Riverside marks FoodCycle’s third Project in Wales in less than 12 months, having launched FoodCycle Newport in 2021 and FoodCycle Swansea in May 2022 to great success.

The free community meal at Wyndam Street Centre in Cardiff will provide great food and conversation every Wednesday at 6.30pm for anyone who wants to come along. Meals are open to all, and guests range from low-income families, people affected by homelessness and those who cannot afford to buy food. No questions asked, you can just turn up and take a seat.

FoodCycle Cardiff is still looking to recruit new volunteers and Project Leaders. Flexible volunteer roles without a minimum time commitment are open to anyone and include food collection, surplus food coordinators, cooking, hosting and running Projects.

FoodCycle’s free community FoodCycle Cardiff takes place every Wednesday from 6.30pm at Wyndam Street Centre, 3-5 Wyndam Street, Cardiff, CF11 6DQ