Spontaneous food bank in Glasgow - answer to riot

The centre of Glasgow was awash with carrier bags full of groceries last weekend, when a spontaneous food bank grew up in George Square. The event was started off by father and son team Andrew and Darren Carnegie, who run a food bank called: 'Glasgow's Needy' in the city every winter. They were concerned after a riot broke out on Friday night, in the wake of the Independence vote.

The pair put up some peace flags in the square and made a speech about peace and reconciliation. They then got on to the subject of their food bank, and before they knew it, kind-hearted Glaswegians were rushing to give food for the cause, with more than 100 bags of food donated on Saturday alone. They returned on Sunday and were again flooded by contributions which will last their food bank for months to come.

Darren said: “It was a stark contrast to Friday night. The scenes of violence show a tiny minority of Glaswegians, a vile bigotry that’s not representative of anything. That’s why we were down there with our peace flags, to show Glasgow is a good city with good people. The intention was to speak about peace, about ending bigotry and hatred, and we got on to our food bank. There was a spontaneous reaction and soon we had to ask friends to come down with cars and now our living room is absolutely stowed with food."

The event is to going to be repeated this Saturday, 27 September, from 12 noon onwards.

The request is for dried food, cereals and tinned food to be brought to the Square from where it will be taken and distributed among needy citizens. A message on the Archdiocese of Glasgow website says: 'Spread the word and show the best of Glasgow!'