Demand on Cornwall's foodbanks run by one charity has risen 13 per cent year-on-year since the start of the lockdown - with more than 1,000 extra people needing support.

Of these, 303 of them were children receiving emergency food parcels - a rise of 10.5 per cent, making a total of 3,184 young people supported between April 1 and September 30 this year.

A further 726 extra parcels were handed out to adults this year than during the same time period in 2019. This was a rise of 14 per cent, making a total of 5,777 adults in the five-month period.

In total, 8,961 food parcels were handed out from April 1 - days after lockdown began - up until September 30. This was compared 7,932 distributed over the same period 12 months ago.

It was the second highest amount in the south west, which in this list includes Bournemouth, Gloucester and Wiltshire.

Cornwall was second only to Bristol, which distributed 19,790 parcels.

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In total there were 99,875 parcels given out across the south west - almost 30,000 more than the 70,337 handed out during the same period in 2019.

The figures relate to Trussell Trust foodbanks only, meaning the total number of people being supported by foodbanks across Cornwall is likely to be far higher.

The charity has foodbanks in various parts of Cornwall, including Falmouth and Penryn, Helston and St Austell, with other independent foodbanks covering areas such as Penzance and Camborne-Pool-Redruth.

One local foodbank manager, who preferred not to be named, said the figures went deeper than at first sight.

He said: "Food poverty is so complex. For some people the furlough scheme may have helped and lockdown probably has helped some people, but for other people it's been very difficult - particularly those that have lost their jobs.

"I don't think we can say we have got a greater demand because of Covid - there are a whole load of other factors.

"What we're really concerned with is encouraging people that if they need food to not be ashamed - come and ask for help."

He went on to praise the "fantastic" community response to foodbank appeals and projects set up over half term in the wake of Marcus Rashford's appeal for the Government to not turn its back on children.

It was after a majority of MPs voted not to continue providing free school meals to eligible families over half term - something the Government has since performed a U-turn over ahead of the Christmas holidays.

"We have seen a fantastic community response in terms of the local community getting together to help people, to donate to their foodbanks and support people in food poverty," he said.

He went on to add that it was important people kept talking about food poverty, to help deal with the causes.

And he said that figures on food poverty were "very, very different" depending on which part of Cornwall you lived in - while stressing that this didn't reduce the need of those that did need to use foodbanks in all parts of the Duchy.