SHOPPING can be a bit of a rush at this time of year, but one man flew round the Fordingbridge Co-op in three minutes filling two trolleys with £370 worth of food, all for charity.

The trolley dash was a prize in a raffle draw won by a man from Cirencester, who donated it to charity.

The Fordingbridge Rotary Club who organised the draw and paid for the prize, chose Salisbury-based Christian charity, The Trussell Trust, to receive the prize.

So equipped with trainers and ready for action, Mark Elling from the Trussell Trust manned the trolley.

He grabbed at essential foodstuffs such as cereal, pasta, tinned soup, spaghetti, sauces and tinned ham which will go into the charity’s Christmas hampers to help people facing an emotional or financial crisis due to a change in circumstances.

Mark said: “Cornering was the tricky bit and focussing on what we needed. I had a mental list but at speed it’s quite an interesting experience.

“Tinned ham was a particular target, in fact I took the entire stock.”

He added: “It means we can definitely issue Christmas hampers to everyone who needs one and we are very grateful to the Rotary Club for choosing us to receive the prize and to the Co-op who were very generous and very helpful.”

Co-op manager Mark Dobb said: “We base a lot of what we do on the local community.”

He said the store has held collections in the past for the Trussell Trust and that every year the Co-op gives to charities.

In 2010 the Fordingbridge branch plans to help local charities and schools and playgroups.