Food bank receives unusual Cornish present Published duration 19 January 2012

image caption The pasties were handed over to the Camborne food bank by a local bakery

A food bank in Cornwall has been given the unusual gift of 1,800 pasties after they were delivered too late for a supermarket to use.

The charity in Camborne is now asking local churches to organise pasty parties so the windfall can be used up.

The pasties were handed over to the Camborne food bank by Crantock's bakery.

The pasties are currently being stored in a deep freeze unit and have a 12-month freezer shelf life.

Don Gardner, who runs the food bank, said: "The local bakery produced them and sent them to a supermarket distribution. The lorry was late and got sent away.

"Unfortunately, they get a time slot and, if they don't arrive in time, it's bye-bye to the food

"But it was 'hello' to the food bank."

Mr Gardner added: "I can't take them into the food bank because we don't know how many families will come in. We could have 30, 20, or 10 families, so we would waste pasties.

"We're calling for churches to have pasty events. They can have boxes of pasties and give a gift to the food bank, then we can get more suitable food for the families that use the service."