Volunteers who help feed Bradford's hungry and homeless are now looking for a new home of their own.

The pioneering Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank scheme, based on the successful Curry Project, collects food at a central point and distributes it to the needy across the district.

The idea was launched by Lashman Singh, who has run the Curry Project for homeless people in the city for more than a decade.

The Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank, set up to build on the original idea, relies on donations from schools, churches, mosques, temples and supermarkets to help provide the service.

But the group is about to lose its base on the Royds Enterprise Park in Buttershaw, and is looking for a temporary home near the city centre.

The steering group's chairman Keith Thomson said: "Because we have not got our charitable status yet we can only afford a peppercorn rent.

"We are only looking for a good sized room, 24 feet by 24 feet would do, for us to store the food."

The Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank, set up this summer, is being run by 15 volunteers.

The team works with churches, mosques, Bradford Council's social services and community groups to help identify people facing financial hardship or isolated elderly people.

They collect and deliver donations of canned and packet food such as tinned meat, sausages, spaghetti, beans and fruit.

At the moment the group operates in the city centre and to the south of Bradford but they want to develop a district-wide service by getting more volunteers.

Mr Thomson said: "We do not know how many people we reach because a lot of our deliveries are made to churches and community groups who then take them out to people they know are in need.

"At the moment the amount of food being donated is quite small but once we become a charity we will have a register of people in need and make more regular deliveries."

Mr Singh, of Clayton, has been running the Curry Project for more 12 years said the scheme provided a variety of food. But the name curry was chosen because Mr Singh believed it would appeal to people from different religions and communities within Bradford.

l Anyone interested in getting involved or providing Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank with a home should call Mr Singh on (01274) 521028 or Mr Thomson on 01274 542672.