VOLUNTEERS who help feed the homeless in Swindon have celebrated the first anniversary of their group.

The Night Kitchen Swindon enjoyed birthday festivities at its stall on Edgeware Road.

The volunteer-run group provides free hot meals, bedding and clothing to the homeless on Thursday evenings.

Founder and committee member Kevin Maddison said: “It’s been a fantastic year. I’ve been overwhelmed by it.”

Run by six committee members, when the group first started it was feeding 25 homeless people. This has grown to more than 60 every week.

“It’s not because we’ve become more well known,” added Kevin. “It’s because homelessness itself has grown since we started.”

Kevin created the group after falling homeless himself.

“I started doing this to help others, but it’s helped me cope with my situation.

“We’re here because the provision for homeless people from the council isn’t good enough,” he added.

The group has had a turbulent first year, with the theft of £300 of its supplies from a garage before Christmas.

“That was a real low point for us,” said Kevin. “We would have struggled for a good few weeks to provide anything to the homeless over Christmas. But the support we had from the community afterwards was absolutely overwhelming,” Kevin added.

“That was a massive high for us. The community really stepped up and helped us replenish our stocks.

"And each week we are thanked by the homeless for what we are doing for them. It is definitely greatly appreciated,” he said.

Kevin added: “Our groups are so important for people who live on the street. Keeping morale high and giving them a sense of hope.

“We don’t just feed people, we all know each other, we’ve made friends. I like to thinking we’re giving people a sense of self-worth as well as keeping them alive.”

One of the visitors to the Night Kitchen said: “I love coming here. I know everyone and they all know me. They do such a good job.”

“I come here all the time,” said another. “I don’t just come here for the food. I come for the company, I get on with everyone here. I mainly come here for that.”

Swindon mayor Councillor Kevin Parry attended the celebration. He said: “It’s inspiring to see this group come and support the people in our town who most need the support. It’s interesting to see not just the range but the amount of people who come to The Night Kitchen. It’s easy to talk about homelessness but in order to understand the situation you’ve got to come down to this sort of group and see what they do,” he said.