Some of the 11,000 children in poverty in Brighton and Hove are being fed for free through the school holidays.

New social project Chomp has been started by a Brighton church to feed low-income families who struggle for the 13 weeks of a year when their children aren’t at school.

Launched at the beginning of the Easter holidays, the lunch club was full within days as families learnt about the hot and nutritional meals on offer at the church’s base in Gloucester Place between noon and 2pm.

Coordinator Amy Goodwin has worked with head teachers at St Martin’s and Fairlight schools in Brighton, two of the schools with the highest percentage of free school meals in the country.

She said: “A lot of families rely on free school meals that are only available during the term time.

“We wanted to continue that so the children are able to get something to eat during the school holidays.

"It’s a time when parents struggle most to buy food, especially things that are nutritionally healthy to feed to their children.

“We’re hoping that if this is successful we might be able to promote it further so other churches can take on other areas of Brighton and Hove.”

Last year, The Argus reported how desperate mothers had been known to take their children to the homeless project run by the Salvation Army in the school holidays.

The Chomp scheme is part of national scheme Lunch, which encourages community groups to provide meals for hungry children in the school holidays.

Aimed to be hot and nutritional, meals have ranged from fish with handmade chips and vegetables and feed the whole family.

Miss Goodwin said: “One family came on Monday and then every day after. It’s been really encouraging.

“Another mother said it was the most she had seen her son eat, in terms of size and variety. He even went back for seconds.

“There was another little boy who came with his mother on Friday and she said she was really glad they made the effort to come.

“Some of them are single parent families but we don’t go into deep conversations with people about their circumstances.

“We don’t means-assess people, we don’t feel it’s our place, we’re just inviting people to come along.”

Register with Chomp for lunchtime meals by contacting MS Goodwin on 01273 694746 or emailing amy@one churchbrighton.org