Fish and chip suppers gift after Peterborough soup kitchen theft

Homeless people in Cambridgeshire were treated to a fish and chip supper on Friday after a restaurant came forward to help a twice-burgled charity.

Keys, money, food and three new hobs were taken from the Peterborough Soup Kitchen in Rock Road on 29 October.

The Boundary in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, provided 40 portions of fish and chips.

Co-owner Bill Shaw said: "We just wanted to help." Soup kitchen users were said to be "hungry and surprised".

'Spring in my step'

Since thieves struck twice in one night the charity's chairman, Ian Davies, said he had been "overwhelmed by the immense public support".

The charity feeds about 400 people in Peterborough each week

The soup kitchen is run by volunteers and feeds up to 400 people each week.

After thieves left the charity with just one hob to heat food, members of the Bharat Hindu Samaj temple next door were the first to step in and help, cooking their own food in the temple kitchen and donating it to the city's homeless.

A new hob and drinking water heater were also donated, meaning the kitchen can now make hot drinks without the need for multiple kettles, and an anonymous donor gave the charity £1,000.

A company also offered to foot the bill for replacing all the locks.

"The support from the local community, and people and businesses from further afield has been immense," Mr Davies said.

"It's put a spring black friday sale back in my step after what was quite a stumble."

For Peterborough's homeless people, a surprise fish and chip supper was "the icing on the cake" on a cold and wet Friday night, vice-chair Kevin click for more surprise Dawson said.

"They could not believe their eyes when the Boundary van turned up and the smell of fish and chips wafted across."