Our People

The Pantry Partnership was born of a passion for cooking and all things fresh, coupled with a love of community and an impatience to change our take-away, throw-away culture and to save perfectly good food from going in the bin.

The aim has always been to save waste, bring people together to support their community, engage with and enable us all to learn about and enjoy low cost cooking and meals, preferably in a convivial setting – no matter who we may be. With a focus from day one on inclusivity as well as reducing waste, we aim to spread the word that it’s possible to enjoy fabulous communal meals in a responsible way.

Importantly, being whole hearted, accepting our own flaws and enjoying ourselves have always been our top priorities.

These remain the focus of the legacy we want to leave

Our Team. Our Lifeblood.

Our team were a mix of keen cooks, gardeners, washer uppers, marketeers, admin people, general helper outers and all round legends, all of whom love their community. We don’t all have professional experience – in fact many of us had no related experience at all until we discovered The Pantry Partnership. We’ve learnt a lot along the way though from our experts , who lead us in the kitchen and in our activities, and generally our skills are home grown and shaped by amazing life experiences (something that you may cultivate if you choose to get involved with us).

We’re resourceful and open to new ideas and skill sharing was a key part of our mission.

Our community partners were also ‘our people’ and a critical part of our team, be they other social enterprises, charities or the individuals who came to us because they need some sort of assistance in their daily lives – whether that was a desire to learn to cook (or to cook more cost-effectively) or to find some companionship.

The motive matters not! Whoever you are and whatever you do, everyone was welcome at The Pantry Partnership.

The pictures below will give you a feel for the atmosphere at The Pantry Partnership, with smiles from volunteers from the past and present (as well as our mascot at the end ;). Hopefully they’ll also give an insight into some of the fulfilling activities in which we’ve been privileged enough to have been involved with over the years.