TENBURY is slowly returning to normal but the man who runs the town’s food bank says that there are still many people facing hardship and he fears that it could get worse when the current job retention scheme ends in October.

The Rev Mark Inglis, vicar of Tenbury, is also keen to recruit some more volunteers to help to put together food parcels and provide general support.

“There is a feeling that some kind of normality is returning,” said the Rev Inglis.

“Most of the shops in the town that are going to reopen have done so.

“What we do not really know is the true level of unemployment and that will only become clearer when the furlough scheme ends.

“There are people who have lost their jobs and businesses that have just collapsed and where businesses have reopened they need fewer people.”

He said that as might be expected the hospitality sector has taken a big hit.

“My observation is that the pubs and cafes are not busy,” the Rev Inglis said.

He said that the food bank is currently supporting about 100 people in the Tenbury area compared with about 15 at this time last year well down on the 150 who were being supplied at the peak of the lockdown.