Ever wondered what happens when a 125-year-old family farm meets a modern food charity? The magic that unfolds is changing how communities access fresh, nutritious food across Britain.This episode takes us behind the scenes with Jon Ham...

"Food is a luxury." These four words from Betti, a British-Asian single mother in Newcastle, cut straight to the heart of Britain's cost of living crisis. In this powerful episode of A Slice of Bread and Butter, we meet a woman whose resilience...

What happens when your life savings vanish overnight? For Karen, this devastating reality struck when a £150,000 investment in her daughter's business venture collapsed due to contractual issues with their building. This financial catastrophe a...

"I'm a worker, not a charity case." These six powerful words from Tracy, a 47-year-old single mother working at IKEA, capture the essence of a profound conversation about financial struggle, resilience, and the hidden battles many ...

When life throws a curveball, navigating support systems shouldn't feel like scaling a brick wall. Yet for John, whose partner's sudden health decline forced him to abandon his teaching career and become a full-time carer, that's exactly what h...

"It's not just the food—it's reinvigorating community spaces." These powerful words from Paul Harris, headteacher at Carhill Community Primary School in Gateshead, capture the transformative impact The Bread and Butter Thing has had on his comm...

What happens when a healthcare professional with a Master's degree finds herself struggling to put food on the table? Emma Vinton's story challenges our assumptions about who needs community food support in today's economy.Emma, a dedic...

When Tracy moved from Working Tax Credits to Universal Credit, nothing about her circumstances changed – she was still a single mum working as a support worker on national living wage. Yet suddenly, she found herself without access to free pres...

What drives a 15-year-old boy to flee his home country alone, crossing dangerous borders in darkness to reach safety thousands of miles away? For Farid, it was the Taliban's targeting of his family due to his father and brothers' work with Afgh...

What happens when working full-time simply isn't enough to feed your family? Tracy's powerful story exposes the harsh reality many working parents face in today's economy.As a single mother of five working as a property assistant for Ki...

Lorraine Smith's journey from social worker to service user reveals the profound ways life can change when health challenges arise unexpectedly. After receiving six different diagnoses in six months, this Manchester-born professional found hers...

The face of financial hardship is changing. Meet David - data analyst by day, heavy metal musician by night - who embodies a troubling economic trend that's sweeping across the UK.David and his wife both work full-time professional jobs...

Meet Tracy, whose metal heart valve ticks audibly throughout our conversation - a constant reminder of the life-threatening surgery that became a turning point in her already challenging financial journey.Tracy's story offers a rare gli...

Vic and Mark welcome Hayley, Assistant Chief Executive at Citizens Advice Manchester, for a candid conversation about the changing face of financial hardship in Britain today.The discussion reveals a troubling shift in who's seeking sup...

The stark reality of our broken food system comes to life as Anna Taylor, Executive Director of the Food Foundation, sits down with Mark and Vic to unpack the findings from their eye-opening Broken Plate report. What emerges is a troubling pict...

Not only is it National Volunteer Week but it's also our 50TH EPISODE(!) so we had to make it an extra special one. This week, it's all about Erin, sign language interpreter by day, community hero by heart. She’s not only founded a food bank in...

Behind every food bag at Bread and Butter is a dedicated volunteer like Zosia. Having escaped living under martial law in Poland, Zosia arrived in the UK in 1982 and immediately took on multiple jobs without seeking government support. This sel...

Singer, vocal coach and part-time carer, Colette doesn’t fit the typical image of someone needing food support. After a divorce in 2021, she faced sudden financial strain but has slowly rebuilt her life. Despite juggling three jobs, a mortgage,...

As part of our Slice of Life campaign and our mission to make life more affordable for working families, this week’s episode focuses on James. James is a support worker and devoted young dad doing everything he can to make sure his little boy i...

From hospital wards to hub volunteering, Sarah bulldozes her way through life with tonnes of energy, honesty and humour. Despite working 12-hour shifts as a healthcare assistant, she makes time every Saturday to volunteer at our Neon hub in Old...

Tucked away in leafy Cheshire, Broken Cross Primary's Headteacher Donna is leading a quiet revolution in how schools support struggling families. Like so many schools these days, it offers so much more than education.  With nearly half of ...

"Smell it, smell it, use your eyes and use your nose!" declares James, this week's entertaining podcast guest. After precisely "50 years, 9 months and 13 days" in engineering across the Merchant Navy, Army, and food production industries, James...

Penny Walters tells it like it is. It's this Northern grit, honesty and fearlessness that's made her the go-to community figure in Byker that she is today. Join Mark and Alex as they chat with Penny about her incredible journey from working 70-...

The final in our Team Talk mini series takes you behind the scenes to hear directly from the team at Bread and Butter HQ. Whilst these guys might not be out in our hubs everyday, they're busy making sure that things get to where they need to be...

What happens when affordable food becomes the catalyst for community connection? In the second of our Team Talk podcast mini series, we catch up with some of the seasoned veterans of Bread and Butter and our Chair of Trustees to unpick the magi...