A Slice of Bread and Butter
The voice of The Bread and Butter Thing - with stories from the frontline of the cost of living crisis from one of the UK's leading food charities.
A Slice of Bread and Butter
How Volunteering Rebuilds Confidence After Retirement
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Retirement is meant to feel like freedom, but for a lot of people it can land more like silence. Anne is an ex-teacher who took early retirement, tells us what it’s like to go from a busy school community to days that feel smaller, with friends still working and confidence slowly slipping. Then she walks into a Bread and Butter hub and, within weeks, finds herself back in the thick of people, laughter, and purpose.
We talk about what The Bread and Butter Thing actually does: rescuing surplus food from supermarkets, farms, and factories, then turning it into affordable food bags that go straight into communities. Anne shares the real nuts and bolts of volunteering, from unloading the van and sorting food to bagging and helping members with trolleys, plus why those simple tasks create space for proper conversations. We also zoom out to the power of a venue like Family Gateway, where a community café, youth activities, sport, and support services sit side by side, making it easier to ask for help before a crisis hits.
Along the way we unpack why an open, affordable food scheme can feel different from a traditional food bank, and we meet the hub’s folk hero: Ray, the long-time volunteer whose kindness, work ethic, and very specific bag-stacking standards make him unforgettable. If you care about cutting food waste, building community, and finding practical ways to support people through the cost of living squeeze, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a review, what’s one local place that makes you feel you belong?
Welcome And Why We Exist
SPEAKER_01Hello and welcome back to a splicing bread and butter podcast from the bread and butter thing with me, Mark and Vick.
SPEAKER_02We run mobile food clubs that take surplus food from supermarkets, farms and factories. We get it straight into communities where families are working hard to make ends meet.
SPEAKER_01But bread and butter has never been just about bags. It's about people, it's about neighbours having a natter, volunteers mucking in, and families trying something new for tea and communities looking after each other.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's what keeps us at it. Bags full of good food, a brew, a natter. People looking after each other, just the stuff that really matters.
Meeting Anne And Her New Start
SPEAKER_01And today we're gonna have a chat with Anne from Walter.
SPEAKER_00My name's Anne Payne. I'm an ex-teacher. Took early retirement about eight years ago, and um have been struggling a little bit to find good things to do since then.
SPEAKER_01Are you on your own here or no, my husband?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yes. We only got married last year. So we've been together 17 years, but don't like to rush things.
SPEAKER_01You really don't, do you? So what what what was the catalyst?
SPEAKER_00Um a seven-year-old granddaughter who was desperate, desperate to be a bridesmaid. She's the only girl in the family.
SPEAKER_01So you got married just because your granddaughter wanted to be a bridesmaid.
SPEAKER_00Well we've but we've been gonna do it for years. But then, you know, my kids were having kids and then and then I've just had a great grandchild. So everything was just happening and we just put it off and put it off.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But yes, we've done it.
Leaving Teaching When It Gets Too Much
SPEAKER_01And do you mind me asking it the early retirement?
SPEAKER_00Was that health reasons or just I was work at working in a school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And um yeah, it just got a bit too much. I just think it's a young person's game. I worked in the same school for 15 years. It was a amazing community school. Right. Absolutely fantastic place. But um things change.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's i it's really funny, Annie, because I I've had conversations with nurses that say similar things.
SPEAKER_00The school that I worked in, it was it was quite a deprived area and children who kinda needed you. And I always said the day I couldn't give a child a cuddle who was in distress, I would leave. And that day kinda came, that's where we are now.
SPEAKER_01So you guys you said you're struggling a bit, so you found bread and butter recently?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um I've I've I'd been looking for things to do because
Finding Confidence Through Volunteering
SPEAKER_00obviously I went from a job where I was rushed off my feet to not having a lot to do. All of my friends worked, you know, my husband worked, I'd given up a huge wage, and I just kind of felt a bit lost. When I found the hub, a friend of mine, well, we're gonna do it together because I had lost my confidence. I applied, but then work got in the way and she couldn't do it, so I actually didn't do anything more about it, and then they contacted me and I thought, oh, just just go. I was worried about what I would have to do, would I fit in? All of these things that seem crazy, but as soon as I went, I felt comfortable, and you know, somebody showed me what to do, and that was it, and now it's only been weeks really, but I I love it. And you're seeing the same people, and I've made friends, so it's been a great experience for me. It's given me a lot of confidence.
SPEAKER_01That's good to know. Everybody tends to divvy up the job, so what what have you ended up getting?
Learning The Ropes And Fitting In
SPEAKER_00To be honest, I do a bit of everything. Get the stuff off the van and then sort it out and then do the bagging.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um Do you ever go on the van and pack the church?
SPEAKER_00Yes, being on the van, uh, which I actually enjoyed. I have, yeah. I I I I like being on the van because people are coming there individually, so you get a chance to have a bit of a chat. Yeah. I've also been on the trolleys, so helping people with their bags, which is also great, because as you're taking them to the car, you can also I feel like I've got to know people who are coming to bread and butter as well as as the staff.
The Ray Effect At The Hub
SPEAKER_01Tell me about the people there then, tell me about the volunteers. Who've you met?
SPEAKER_00I've met Ray. Um, when I first started, I heard a lot about Ray and how he would be coming back soon because he hadn't been there for a few weeks, and I would love Ray, and everybody loved Ray. And then the first week that I met Ray, I loved Ray. Now I feel like I've never not known him.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, you're gonna have to explain this phenomenon that is honestly, he's he's just a great bloke.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's funny, he has stories, he's he works hard, and he's just um I don't know, I feel like I feel like I've known him all my life. And and on the first day that he came back, never met him before. And on the first day that he came back, the staff from around the hub were coming, giving them a hug. Oh Ray, we're glad you're back, you know, we've heard you're back. Everybody came from the hub to meet them. So so nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, why why is Ray so popular? I've got a bit of envy now. I don't know. I'm gonna have to do my homework on Ray now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you do. You have to get him on, you have to get him on this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I d I'm stunned. You you can tell you can tell him next week I'm coming through.
SPEAKER_00Everybody's really nice, everybody you know mucks in and and works hard, and and we we usually get about you know a half hour break and we'll get to know each other and um have a cup air and you're not new to the area, are you, Anne?
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. So so it it's kind of broadened the kind of people that you know though. Yeah. Because what one of the things I think is always nice is you meet people you'd never normally meet.
SPEAKER_00100%, yeah. And and I I felt like my world had narrowed because I didn't have this big sort of work family anymore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I get that.
SPEAKER_00Um you felt like you knew a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01Your world kind of shrinks when you retire a bit, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But it's um it's broadening again now.
Family Gateway And Community Support
SPEAKER_01I've been in Family Gateway a few times, just so that other people can understand what Family Gateway is. Can you talk about the venue itself and what else is on there, etc.?
SPEAKER_00Um yes, it's like a big community space that have a a community run cafe. There's football that runs out of there, um there's a youth club, they've just started a line dancing class. I think there's a drop-in for people affected by domestic abuse. So there's a big range of things that that go on there. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um they're just the things that have sort of clocked, I suppose.
SPEAKER_01We love places like Family Gateway because when you go in, what you're also doing is bringing people like yourself to see what's going on in there because sometimes you'll never even cross that threshold with bread and butter.
SPEAKER_00Well, I w I I wouldn't have had a reason to go. And now that I can see that there's lovely people there who are sort of running and organising these things, which is great. It gives you a confidence that there is somewhere that if you if you're sort of not in trouble, but i if you have a need like that, there is good places that you can go. It's a parcel.
SPEAKER_01Always a parcel.
SPEAKER_00Always.
SPEAKER_01Oh, where were we? So you you wouldn't have seen things you wouldn't have met people before. So what's next
Affordable Food Scheme Versus Food Banks
SPEAKER_01for you then? Are are you doing more bread and butter or different things?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I'm definitely staying with bread and butter because I really enjoy it, and I feel like I'm contributing to something that's important.
SPEAKER_01What do you think is important about it?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think uh the a huge thing is that food isn't going to waste. That's probably the biggest thing that it's being used by people. Because it obviously it is different from a food bank because anybody can go, you know. Um and yes, it's it's helping people because obviously they're getting a a good amount of food for a a low price, but the king could go if he wanted to. That's obviously the difference between this and a in a food bank.
SPEAKER_02And
Weddings Funerals And Costly Milestones
SPEAKER_02seems to be a bit slow to make a decision, Mark. What do you think?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so um, full confession, I I don't think I'd be married now if uh it wasn't for Luke coming around. I might have dragged that one out.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_01But it wasn't her decision either. I mean, come on, she she only got married because she just wanted her granddaughter to be a bridesmaid.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_01That's like some elaborate uh I mean that's a really romantic gesture, that is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I guess so. Yeah, no. I mean it's it's funny, isn't it? Because I think it's cute. Yeah, and I think you know, it's if you think about it, life gets in the way for a lot of people for a lot of things. Like people have busy, complicated lives. And it's almost like I wonder how many of our members are just still waiting to get married because they don't have the time or the money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Maybe we could go into bread and butter weddings, what do you reckon?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely not. Do you just get bread and butter when you're like having your Well, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I there are others out there. Uh Adam and the Real Junkers do cater weddings.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm sure Open Kitchen would do a bit of that too.
SPEAKER_01I'm sure they would. I know this will sound weird, but I um if you think about it long enough, it isn't weird. One of the things that uh was always on my mind in the early days of bread and butter was funerals because they're really expensive.
SPEAKER_02Wow. That was like a turn from we're doing a bread and butter wedding.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's like I'm now thinking four weddings and a funeral.
SPEAKER_01Well, I know. I I went all Hugh Grant on you, I'm sorry, but it just triggered because it's like expensive milestones in everybody's life. Yeah. A family cycle will always have several funerals in it, and every one of them's quite a few grand.
SPEAKER_02Who knew we were gonna go there on this podcast? And what have you done to us?
Why Routine And People Matter
SPEAKER_01Did I go too far projecting forward? Because we were talking about retirement and the world's the life narrowing and uh and the world just kind of shrinks around you when you retire, etc.
SPEAKER_02I yeah, I really I really appreciated that whole I've got my work family, and then you know, because they're still working and they're still on like the hamster wheel at that speed that you've always been on. So there's that change of pace, but then also change of availability of people, and that's where we step in, right? Yeah, we're every week, same time, same place, same people, what's not to love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and we were literally around the corner from Family Gateway where it was, but it was a more affluent community that we were in, and it was fascinating to see, and it was like a five-minute walk to Family Gateway.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you get that in quite a lot of northern towns where you know there's a bit more community cohesion, a bit more kind of like a better mix of properties.
SPEAKER_01But going back to your point, Vic, you definitely um she's enjoying the friendships and the activity and can see that she's just gonna do more volunteering.
SPEAKER_02100%, but also like still quite new as a volunteer, but already like part of the furniture in a brilliant way. Just goes to show, doesn't it? You know, like I I mean I'll never forget. Again, up in the northeast in a Hartley pool hub, a lady came in and said, I've been really nervous, I'd like to volunteer, but I've got anxiety and really struggling. By the end of the volunteering, she was singing songs at the top of her voice. It was like this is in like a two-hour period. It's like wow, just because everyone's like, Yeah, what can you do? We'll make this job suit you, and everyone's having a bit of a bit of a chat, and it's just really warm, isn't it? A really warm vibe.
Why Ray Is A Legend
SPEAKER_01It is who is super Ray?
SPEAKER_02Well, uh, you know that I'm a nerd, and you know that I like to do the research, so I couldn't let you down. I got a bit of intel on Ray. Ray's been volunteering with us for absolute yonks, he's volunteered with us through all sorts of like little life calamities. So he broke his foot and was in a moon boot, didn't keep him away. He's apparently the leader of the fruit and veg section, and he runs quite a tight ship. So when you line the bags up, you know how you line the bags up so that you can count them easily once they're packed. If it's anything other than five bags in a row, he's not letting it go. That's like his real pet peeve. Just feels like his life and soul, it'll help everyone carry stuff to the car, he'll like always be there and around. I think at the minute he's in Australia because his daughter lives out there with his grandkids and he's not seen them for three whole years, which is amazing. But then the funny thing is that even though Ray goes week in, week out, there's a couple of uh our team members that he can't tell apart, so it's always uh always a surprise whether he's gonna get your name right. Wow. There you go. Clearly, the guys in the northeast also love Ray. This superhero status is clearly well deserved.
SPEAKER_01Guys are clearly a legend. Yeah. Legend. It's a beautiful ripple again, isn't it? It's just like I'm sure there are many Rays in all of the hubs.
SPEAKER_02I can think of a few.
SPEAKER_01It's always nice to hear.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
How To Join And Stay Connected
SPEAKER_01So if you'd like to know more about the bread and butter thing and what we get up to, you can find us at the bread and butter thing on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn or online at breadandbutterthing.org.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and if you've got any feedback or thoughts on the podcast, or you want to come and join us, have a chat with Mark and be our guest, drop us an email at podcast at breadandbutthing.org.
SPEAKER_01And we are always open to new members at all the world hubs, so if you or someone you know would benefit from our affordable food scheme, you can find your nearest hub on the Become a Member pages of the website.
SPEAKER_02And finally, please do all the things that podcasts ask you to do. Like us, subscribe, leave us a review, share us with your friends, and chat about us on social.
SPEAKER_01And we'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_02See you next time.
