It’s wonderful to be back have a ball during City of

THE Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of a growing food shortage crisis in Coventry during a visit to the city which was once his home for 15 years.

Justin Welby is back in Coventry - a city he described as “vibrant” and “dynamic” - on a tour of the diocese, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, until May 5.

Asked about the dire situation with more and more people needing to use food banks in the city, he said it was a relatively new problem but they were a “necessity we do not want to have”.

Coventry Foodbank, one of the busiest in the wider Trussell Trust network of foodbanks, handed out 20,089 emergency food packages to people in Coventry last year - a massive jump of 30 per cent from the previous year.

Shockingly, that means more than 55 packages are handed out on average every day to those struggling to feed themselves.

“If we talked about food banks when we first moved here 20 years ago, almost 30, we would have said ‘You wouldn’t have that here,’” he told the Telegraph.

“They demonstrate the generosity and life in the churches and the faith communities because often there are different faith communities involved who just pull together to help people who are in trouble.

“They are a necessity but they are a necessity we do not want to have.”

As well as visiting schools and charities during his short trip, Mr Welby will also be attending a festival at Coventry Cathedral on Friday to celebrate the special anniversary.

Starting off his tour at the Transport Museum , Mr Welby was greeted by scores of flag-waving children from All Saints CofE Primary School, Blue Coat CofE School and Eden Girls School.

Mr Welby said: “It’s wonderful to be back in Coventry.

“We lived in and around Coventry for 15 years and my family grew up here, so it’s just wonderful. Since we lived here there has been a huge amount of building work and redevelopment, but I have been in and out of here quite regularly so I have sort of seen it happening.

“It is very striking the student accommodation, the way the university has flourished again.”

Mr Welby added: “I was in Liverpool when it was City of Culture having just moved from Coventry around a month earlier and I can tell you it will be enormous fun.

“You will just have a ball for the whole year, it’s going to be wonderful.

“There’ll be huge numbers of people here and it will give momentum that will just push you up for the next few years.

“It’s the most terrific experience.” On food banks and homelessness, Mr Welby said: “If we talked about food banks when we first moved here 20 years ago, almost 30, we would have said ‘You wouldn’t have that here.’

“They demonstrate the generosity and life in the churches and the faith communities because often there are different faith communities involved who just pull together to help people who are in trouble.

“We want a society where they don’t exist, and that’s both for rough sleeping and food banks and food shortage.

“They are a necessity but they are a necessity we do not want to have.

“Obviously in many places it was churches [running food banks] but here because of Coventry’s incredible dynamism and the interaction between faith communities which is one of the great attributes of this place, they are all getting stuck in here.

“The other thing that is very striking is we have seen the proportion of people who are in work but in need of food bank support growing and growing and growing, and that takes us back to a kind of situation we were in 100 years ago.”

About his tour Mr Welby said: “It’s all highlights.

“Obviously there is meeting up with old friends and going to places we know. As I said, we lived in the diocese for 15 years and both in the north, the south, the middle and in Coventry itself, so we have very strong links all overt the place. “It’s just the pleasure of being back in this really vibrant area and seeing how it is changing and enjoying the change.”

After being greeted at Coventry Transport Museum, Mr Welby attended a ‘Nourish’ meal at St Peter’s Centre in Hillfields.

‘Nourish’ is a multicultural bring and share meal organised by the charity Together For Change where people bring dishes from their own cultures and share it with people from other cultures.

The event was an opportunity for the Archbishop to see how ‘Nourish’ is working to build community and companionship in the Hillfields area - an area which has recently become home to a significant migrant and asylum seeker population.

He also heard a song celebrating diversity written specially for the event - by a band from Nexus Institute of Creative Arts.

Together For Change a joint venture between the Diocese of Coventry and the Church Urban Fund - exists to transform communities within Coventry and Warwickshire and tackle issues of systemic poverty.

After the Nourish meal, Mr Welby will be attending a panel discussion titled ‘Building Bridges How can arts and culture contribute to a city of peace and reconciliation’

We lived in and around Coventry for 15 years and my family grew up here, so it’s just wonderful.