Buckingham's free food pantry sharing supermarket surplus

Cynthia Tooley, a successful entrepreneur and TV cookery show judge, has opened Jedidiah, in Castle Street.

Jedidiah is open from 9am to 9.45am on Saturdays for anyone who is struggling to afford food to help themselves to a range of items, both fresh and packaged.

Cynthia, who is originally from Nigeria, is hoping to extend the opening hours so that it is also open on Fridays before long.

The Buckingham venture follows on from Cynthia setting up the charity Jedidiah in Hertford, before she moved to Buckingham in February with her two children, aged 13 and 10, when she married University of Buckingham vice-chancellor James Tooley.

As well as redistributing surplus food from supermarkets, during lockdown Cynthia and volunteers also delivered more than a million food parcels to families in the Hertford area.

Cynthia, who owns a successful cake business, has also set up cookery classes at the Buckingham premises for people who want to learn basic skills but cannot afford to pay for classes.

She is also running a Charity Baking Academy, offering 10-week courses for those who want to learn the skills to make cakes as a business.

Places are free but participants for the Charity Baking Academy must be referred from a job centre, a charity or a church. For more details, see www.jedidiah.org.uk

Cynthia said: "A lot of people are struggling – the food was all gone in 11 minutes last week.

"There is definitely a need for the free surplus supermarket food.

"I managed to build up a very successful business from nothing.

"I want to help others to do the same, which is why I am running the Charity Baking Academy."

Cynthia is a TV cookery show judge on Food Network Canada and has appeared on cookery programmes on BBC2 and Channel 4.

She was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2017 for services to business and the community, after she began mentoring teenagers at schools and universities about becoming entrepreneurs

A former University of Buckingham MBA student, Cynthia started baking while she was on maternity leave, which led to her setting up her business, the Pretty Gorgeous Cake Company.