FOODIES with a passion to serve their local community have joined forces to launch the Kendal People's Cafe.

The eatery will serve meals from food and ingredients that are still in date but would otherwise have gone to waste.

The brainchild of freelance chef and artist Helen Pateman, the venture is based on the successful Lancaster People's Cafe.

Helen put out an appeal for volunteers on social media earlier this year and more than a dozen people responded.

Now the culinary team is set to host a trial run pop-up cafe on Saturday, March 25, at the South Lakes Foyer.

The cafe team is also celebrating after bagging the support of Booths in Kendal which will be supplying fruit, vegetables and bread which would otherwise go to waste.

"The idea is to create tasty, wholesome meals from 'rescued' food and ingredients which are still within date and are safe to eat," explained Helen.

"The donations which would normally go to waste are collected and prepared or cooked before the ingredients can spoil."

People dining at the cafe will be asked to pay what they can afford.

"If you can't afford to pay, this is fine too," added Helen.

All proceeds from the sale of food will be donated to local charities and used to cover kitchen and dining facility hire.

As well as Booths, some other Kendal businesses have stepped forward with offers of food including Charlie's Cafe Bar, The Waterside and The Moon.

Holy Trinity Parish Church on New Road has offered its community centre facilities for the people's cafe and an approach has also been made to the Unitarian Chapel on Branthwaite Brow.

Volunteer Gillian Cowburn, a former food writer on The Westmorland Gazette, said: "Pardon the pun but to be working with Booths on this exciting new project really is the icing on the cake.

"The project will be based in Kendal, the volunteers are from Kendal, the people we will be serving will be from Kendal, and most important, the food we will be 'rescuing' will now be sourced in Kendal."

In the meantime, anyone who would like to help with food donations, collections, or cooking can contact the Kendal People's Cafe through its facebook page or twitter.