The crisp air of October 2025 has settled across Wiltshire, and here at Positive Community Action (PCA), we are reflecting on a month of powerful progress, deep-seated commitment, and record-breaking community achievements. This month, we not only maintained our vital daily operations but also celebrated two significant milestones near the 8,000 mark, the delivery of our 8,000th cooked community meal and logging over 8,000 instances of social reconnection at our cafes.
As we continue to deliver grassroots solutions to combat hunger, malnutrition, loneliness, and cultural deprivation, we thank every volunteer, donor, and community member whose generosity has powered this effort.
The Heart of the Community: 8,000 Meals and Reconnections
The defining successes of October highlight our dual mission of physical and social well-being.
The Community Meals Milestone: Our dedicated Community Meals Team hit an incredible milestone: cooking and delivering over 8,179 home-cooked meals to the most vulnerable members of our community. The celebration, spotlighted in our October 14, 2025, blog post “Cooking Up a Storm,” focused on the team surpassing the 8,000 meal threshold. This figure is far more than a number, it represents thousands of moments of nutritional security and human connection, delivered directly to housebound residents across our isolated rural communities.
Reconnection in the Café: October also saw our cumulative efforts to combat loneliness recognised, as attendance across our Friendship Cafés and Free Community Markets surpassed 8,070 people coming out of isolation. By scheduling our Friendship Café to coincide with our Foodshare every Saturday, we provide an immediate, low-barrier opportunity to address chronic loneliness, linking food security directly to mental well-being.
The BURP Team, Fighting Financial Hardship: The Basic Universal Resource Plan (BURP) team focuses specifically on combating acute food poverty and alleviating financial hardship for those unable to access our other services. This vital service works by distributing essential food and household supplies that have been generously donated directly by members of our local community. The BURP team’s efforts since inception have supported 3,589 people in Wiltshire, providing critical, tailored relief to struggling families and individuals.
The dedication of the team is truly humbling. Our cooks, many of whom prepare meals from their own homes, ensure a high nutritional standard, supported by the Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificates they receive through PCA. Meanwhile, our DBS-checked delivery drivers meet at Wesley Hall to collect insulated bags, often pausing on the doorstep for a friendly chat, turning a simple meal delivery into an essential connection for those struggling with isolation.
We are delighted that our community’s recent milestone achievements have been recognised by local media. The Gazette and Herald featured one of our photographs prominently on their front page, and the BBC has provided significant support. This included recent airtime on BBC Radio Wiltshire, and Points West also came to film and interview some of our dedicated volunteers and recipients.
Environmental Impact: 54 Tonnes of Food Saved and Carbon Avoided
PCA’s impact extends far beyond immediate community relief. Our relentless dedication to rescuing food actively addresses the environmental crisis by diverting enormous volumes of nutritious produce from landfill.
Since our inception, our Foodshare teams have saved a cumulative total of 2,717 trays of nutritious food. Based on the calculation that each of these food trays weighs 20kg, this translates to a massive 54.34 tonnes of food that was prevented from going to waste.
By redirecting surplus food away from landfill and into the community, we avoid the substantial greenhouse gas emissions associated with its entire lifecycle, including cultivation, harvesting, packaging, and decomposition. For every tonne of surplus food redistributed, an average of 2 tonnes of CO2e emissions are prevented from waste. Our work has therefore prevented the release of approximately 108.68 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) into the atmosphere, which is the environmental equivalent of taking over 54 average UK cars off the road for a full year. This represents a powerful intervention against food waste and climate change.
Bus Project Update: The Final Push for Full Mobilisation
The Community Bus is PCA’s major strategic project, designed to radically increase the organisation’s outreach and carry its Pewsey-based services directly into isolated rural communities. October was a critical month for pushing the conversion into its final, high-skill stages.
We are delighted to confirm that the bus is now ready to be mobilised on launch. It has passed its MOT, is taxed, and insured, and we have secured dedicated land for parking. The conversion work itself offers a valuable community benefit, acting as a live educational project where community members can learn valuable practical skills from professional tradespeople.
Conversion Milestones Achieved
October saw the completion of several major fit-out phases, confirming that the bus’s core functions are ready:
- Downstairs Completion: The downstairs area, including the professional kitchen, serving hatch, and climate-controlled cold store, is complete. The gas and electrics for this area have been officially signed off and are fully in place.
- Upstairs Office and Café: The dedicated office space on the top deck is now built. Furthermore, the café seats and booth tables for the top deck area have been completed, making the social area ready for the final decorative finish.
The Final Hurdles: Technical and Finish Work
The launch is now contingent upon resolving the remaining technical and interior finishing tasks.
| Component/Area | October Status | Action Required (Volunteer/Resource Need) |
| Downstairs Services | Complete; Electrics/Gas signed off. | Operational and complete. |
| Top Deck (Café Area) | Office built; Café seats and tables complete. | Insulating and cladding for the top deck interior. |
| Specialized Carpentry | Local carpenter secured. | Final carpentry work to build the upstairs serving station and some boxing off finishing. |
| Essential Utilities (Final Phase) | Running Cost secured. | Securing the solar panels to the roof; getting the diesel water heater fixed. |
| Specialist Volunteer Roles | Upholsterer and Carpenter secured. | Electrician and Metal Fabricator needed for solar panel installation. |
The final push for technical completion involves securing the solar panels to the roof and fixing the diesel water heater, steps vital to ensuring the bus is an autonomous mobile unit. We are urgently appealing for specialized tradespeople to help us overcome these last few constraints.
V. Strategic Vision: The Marlborough Sanctuary (2026)
Looking beyond the Community Bus launch, PCA is already planning for its next major community project in 2026: The Marlborough Sanctuary. This strategic vision is a direct response to the critical need for housing and financial security in the Marlborough area. We have been actively campaigning to secure the site of the old police station in George Lane, arguing that it should be transformed into a dedicated Community Sanctuary for local people suffering from housing and financial insecurity. While the planning application for the proposed retirement complex on the site was recently refused by Wiltshire Council, our campaign continues, focusing on providing Marlborough with the affordable, community-focused housing support that it truly needs.
PCA’s Cumulative Legacy: The Numbers Tell the Story
Beyond these headline achievements, our dedicated teams worked tirelessly throughout October to sustain our comprehensive weekly services, including the Foodshare (running four times a week: Mon, Thurs, Fri, Sat) and the Friendship Café (every Saturday 10 am-12 noon).
The cumulative impact of your support and our volunteers’ efforts since 2020 speaks volumes about the scale of the need in Wiltshire and the power of local action.
| Impact Category | Quantifiable Achievement |
| Food and Household Supply Parcels | 1,222 food and household supply parcels delivered to those suffering from financial hardship in our community |
| BURP Boxes (Battling Rural Poverty) | 3,589 people helped with a BURP box to help fight food poverty in Wiltshire |
| Community Meals | 8,179 meals cooked and delivered to the most vulnerable members of our community to help combat malnutrition |
| Food Waste Reduction | 2,717 trays (54.34 tonnes) of nutritious food saved from landfill and delivered in to the heart of the community where it’s needed most |
| Social Inclusion | 280 Friendship Cafes and Free Community Markets held to Alleviate Loneliness and social isolation |
| Community Attendance | 8,070 people coming out of isolation and attending our cafes |
| Volunteer Strength (Current) | 42 current Volunteers in action for PCA showing strength in unity and kindness |
| Volunteer Strength (Total) | 319 total Volunteers in action for PCA since 2020 |
Looking Ahead: Help Us Complete the Bus
The momentum from October must carry us through November. We are closer than ever to launching the Community Bus, a project that will radically expand our capacity to reach the most isolated.
If you have skills as an Electrician or Metal Fabricator, or if you are interested in becoming one of our dedicated Drivers once the bus is launched, please contact us immediately at together@ourpca.uk. General manpower is also needed for the insulation and cladding on the top deck.
As a voluntary organisation, our operational services, from the weekly Foodshare logistics to the Community Meals, rely entirely on the continued goodwill of our volunteers and the financial donations from our community. Your kindness goes a very long way and makes a huge difference in the lives of the people we support.
October was a true demonstration of our collective strength. By working side-by-side to complete the bus and sustain our core services, we confirm once again that we are truly Together Mighty.
