THE Right Reverend Christopher Foster, the Bishop of Portsmouth, met volunteers at Whitehill village hall’s Soup Cafe.

The cafe, which is funded by Portsmouth Diocese and run as an outreach project by St Matthew’s, has steadily grown in popularity over the last three years.

The aim of the project is to provide a warm bowl of homemade soup and friendship for people all ages on Mondays from noon until 1.30pm.

Project leader Davina Hudson said: “It is wonderful to see more and more people coming each week. Everybody is welcome to attend, there is no fixed charge, we just ask for a donation toward our costs.”

Whitehill village hall chairman Alan Waterhouse said that the weekly event, together with the Friday morning drop-in, had “become an important part of many peoples’ lives” and added that the village hall committee was “pleased to be involved with St Matthew’s in providing these services”.