The leader of a group that feeds hungry and homeless people admitted members felt “sad” to find themselves still in demand a quarter of a century after they made their first rounds.

The St Ignatius Church Soup Run marked its 25th anniversary on Monday November 18 with a Mass followed by a reception for its volunteers and their families and friends.

Based in High Road, Tottenham, the church’s team of 52 sandwich makers, drivers and delivery people feed between 50 and 150 homeless people each week, making extra runs at Christmas, the New Year and Easter.

Team leader and chairman Mike O’Driscoll said: “It is our view that it is sad we need to do this work 25 years after our first soup run on November 18, 1988.

“We assisted several other soup runs starting up about 20 years ago and they are all still going strong to the best of our knowledge.”