Volunteers who helped to save a vital village food hub have been praised for helping to bring the community together, a year on from fears it was likely to close.

It's when you hear from the people who volunteer at Bridgend’s Larder food hub that you realise that it is much more than a Thursday night village shop.

There’s no doubt that it gives villagers access to good food that is fairly priced, but the real bargains are things you cannot put a price on.

It’s the social contact, talking to someone who’ll ask how things are going, who’ll ask after the family.

As Christine Paxton, one volunteer put it, the people coming through the door aren’t just customers: “they are people I have become friends with. That is invaluable.”

A year ago Christine realised the larder, which runs out of

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