Two charities are appealing for people in Watford to give up some of their time to help in the UK's biggest food collection.

The Trussell Trust and FareShare will be collecting food in Tesco stores across Tesco stores, which will then be donated to food banks.

Volunteers are needed from Thursday November 21 until Sunday November 23 to encourage shoppers to donate.

During the collection customers are encouraged to donate long-life food to help food banks and community groups support people in need at Christmas.

Tesco will top up customer donations by 20 per cent to further support the two charities in their work.

needed to hand out shopping lists to customers, so they can see the food items most needed by food banks and community groups in their area, and to encourage people to donate.

Farihah Choudhury volunteered at the last Tesco food collection, collecting donations for groups supported by FareShare.

She said: "I loved volunteering last year - it was great to speak with shoppers donating food. The kindness I saw was wonderful and gave me a lot of hope.

"I believe everyone should have access to good, healthy food and I’d encourage anyone who can to give some time to help stop people going hungry this Christmas."

Emma Revie, chief executive at The Trussell Trust said: "No one should need a food bank at any time of year – but we know during the lead-up to Christmas our network of food banks see even more people needing help.

"Food banks will be doing all they can to provide vital emergency support so people don’t face hunger this Christmas. But to make sure there are enough donations, we need your support. Having your support in this year’s Tesco food collection will make a real difference – the more people who volunteer, the more food will be collected from generous shoppers, and the better prepared food banks will be to help local people."

People interested in volunteering can find out more and sign up at www.fareshare/tescofoodcollection