A quarter of local children in poverty

AROUND 30 people contributed to a public meeting called to address a shocking aspect of local life.

Last year the Gazette revealed that nearly a quarter of Forres' children are living in poverty, around 630 youngsters, a statistic local churches, councillors, Rotary Club members and TSI Moray discussed at St John's Church during the event organised by the Reverend Dr Hamilton Inbadas.

He said: "I was inspired by a talk by the youth officer of the Scottish Episcopal Church about child poverty at a Diocesan event in Inverness.

"I wanted investigate the nature of child poverty in Forres. Working with colleagues from other church congregations in the area, the consultation was an opportunity for us to come together and to discuss this extremely pertinent issue."

He added: "The morning opened with information from the Moray Poverty Strategy confirming that Forres has the highest percentage of children living in poverty in the whole of Moray. The shock in the room was palpable."

Presentations detailed contributing factors including low wages, seasonal work and high transport costs. They included touching real-life examples of what poverty looks like in the area.

It was highlighted that effects on children include arriving at school hungry, without warm winter clothes and being unable to afford school trips, all of which can make it harder to do well at school, therefore limiting future prospects.

Rev Inbadas said: "Poverty in Forres is hidden but the statistics of the level of child poverty and stories of the plight of families living in poverty and children are disturbing."

Mairi McCallum from Moray Food Plus told the meeting that, so far this year, the charity has provided 197 food parcels in Forres, over 100 of which were for families with children under 16. The figure is an increase on last year’s. She added that Moray Food Plus provides community larders and cooking events for children and adults.

Debi Weir from Moray School Bank also talked about the charity's work to ensure that children have access to new school uniform, warm winter clothes and shoes. Last year they provided clothing to 83 children in Forres.

The consultation concluded with Susan Reid, one of Moray Council’s local wellbeing officers, encouraging the group to think about the next steps to alleviating the problems.

"We agreed to promote awareness of the issue of child poverty in local churches," said Rev Inbadas, "and more widely in the local community. We will increase support for existing projects seeking to help children in poverty such as Moray Food Plus and Moray School Bank."

The participants also agreed to meet again to consider what further action they can take to help children who live in families with financial hardship.