Top comedy and delicious food, for a very good cause

This month Bristol’s Mr Comedy, Mark Olver, teams up with a local charity to present a brace of comedy nights, with some star names, at an unusual venue and for a very good cause.

The gigs, on November 18 and 19, will take place within the St Jude’s warehouse owned by FareShare South West, part of a community of independent charities all fighting the same issues: food waste and hunger. FareShare South West helps tackle food poverty by redistributing surplus food across the region, using quality, in-date surplus food which would otherwise have gone to waste.

Mark first came into contact with FareShare via his regular food-and-comedy night, Belly Laughs, who also host these two gigs. “FareShare are such an amazing charity – we wanted to raise money for them and to raise awareness of what they do,” Mark explains. “So, rather than just doing normal benefit gigs, we decided to actually put the gigs on in their warehouse.”

The FareShare warehouse in St Jude’s is the largest surplus food supplier in the south-west

Of the two gigs, the first on November 18, featuring Jon Richardson and others, is sold out already; the November 19 gig, headlined by Angela Barnes, is an all-female bill, appropriately enough as the ticket sales will be split between FareShare and One25, a Bristol charity supporting women trapped in, or vulnerable to, street sex work.

As with his Belly Laughs nights, Mark had no problems putting together a decent lineup. “Aside from Angela, we’ve got some brilliant local comedians, plus [Irish comic, writer and podcaster] Gráinne Maguire. And you also get fed!! Juliet from Bosh Bristol is doing the catering, using surplus food given to FareShare.”

“Spending time with FareShare, seeing how they work, seeing the sheer amount of food in their warehouse, and the huge number of volunteers that sort and deliver the food to organisations that need it, is amazing,” Mark enthuses.

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This will be the first time that FareShare has hosted any sort of public ticketed event in its warehouse. The charity is also pleased to be sharing the takings with an organisation with whom they already work closely.

“We’re good friends with One25, and in fact we supply them with surplus food so they can ensure their end users get a nourishing meal,” explains Julian Mines, CEO at FareShare South West. “For us, the money will be used to enable us to get even more in-date, good quality surplus food out to more charity organisations, schools, community centres and groups, to ensure that the most vulnerable in our region don’t go hungry.”

Funds from the evening will be shared with Bristol charity One25, which supports women trapped in, or vulnerable to, street sex work

Aside from the funds raised, Julian hopes that the evenings help to raise awareness of food poverty. “Mostly, I hope that people see our desire to work with others, like Belly Laughs and One25, and to appreciate the difference that can be made when we come together as a city around an issue. It’s easy to assume food poverty will never affect you or anyone you know, but it is an increasingly prevalent issue, often with complex root causes.

“Whilst there’s much to be done at a policy level to address the root causes, right now we have the ability to get good food to the people who need it most. All we need is the funds from events like these and generous donations from the city’s people and businesses to enable us to do just that.

Surplus Food Supper Club with Belly Laughs Nov 19, FareShare South West, St Jude’s, Bristol. For more info, visit https://tinyurl.com/y2ny6rzo

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