Behind the doors of an unassuming warehouse in Stamford Hill is a treasure trove of furniture, clothes, toys, kitchen ware, building materials, bicycle parts, and much more besides, all collected by charity, Streetbox and their friends to create a new community cafe, commercial kitchen, and workshop space to help tackle food waste and fight food poverty.

Today's task was to sort items and make space for the delivery of..... more building materials! (salvaged, of course), to progress the next stage of the project - structural works including a new roof.

Sana, Rob and Anne gave up some of their Bank Holiday Saturday to lend a hand. Chris from Streetbox explained the background of the project and directed goods to the correct areas. He also put in a lot of hard graft too.

There was all sorts to be sorted but soon the team were familiar with the allocated areas for different types of items and clothes mounds were growing, the building materials area started to look like a DIY store and the area of bulky furniture could have given IKEA a run for its money.

The growing pile of empty crates provided a measure of progress while the mound of items for out was a source of catharsis. Key finds were a karaoke machine which looked like a pedestal from The Weakest Link, and a vintage record player cabinet, both of which suggest there could be fun times ahead when the community cafe opens!

Before then, more help will be required to load and unload building materials for the structural works; and then later when the space is transformed and more operational, to help sort food for distribution, so keep an eye open for more sessions to help this exciting project.