Preston hair salon owner collects a room full of food for the Salvation Army's food bank to give to needy families in Lancashire

Diane Sloane, with some of the food she has collected

A hair dresser was amazed to fill her conservatory with food, as she began a collection for low income families ahead of the school Easter holidays.

After Diane Sloane, who runs Salon 58, in Preston, saw the poignant film I, Daniel Blake, about a man struggling to make ends meet on benefits, she felt compelled to do something to help families living below the breadline.

So the 45-year-old, from Broadgate, decided to enter a triathlon at Edge Hill University, and instead of asking for sponsorship, she asked people to donate a tin of food.

She said: “When doing sponsored events, people feel obliged to give £5 or £10 but I thought people could afford a tin of food. The response has been phenomenal.

“I have been collecting items from family, friends and clients for the last three months and my conservatory looks like a food bank.

“A lot of people struggle for toiletries and sanitary towels and tampons, so we have been collecting those items. In the salon we have a collection tin for period poverty.

“My triathlon is April 14, but I have arranged for Salvation Army to collect the items before then, as the Easter holidays are starting and there is a real panic as families struggle.

“I am hoping to inspire other businesses to do this as I never imagined I would have the response I had.

“One of my clients, who runs Heatons Garage, in Bamber Bridge, had been collecting 200 tins form her customers and brought them in to us.”