RECESSION and financial stresses may mean cuts to services and much belt-tightening at home but, oddly enough, it also brings communities together.

In Bolton, always a stronghold of community groups and charities, many important services are now offered by volunteers who probably also fundraise to provide them.

Food banks are not an unusual phenomenon now, literally feeding the hungry. Hundreds of ordinary people rely on these extraordinary “good neighbours” and their donated food just to get by every day.

It’s certainly a sign of these cash-strapped times, but the reality is that the community spirit has never been stronger. Probably only wartime offered the necessary opportunity for us to band together to survive, and helping others became a way of life.

Charitable groups in Bolton, in spite of being very short of funds themselves, have never been richer in spirit and determination. They are regularly finding new ways to raise money, and their supporters know how vital they are to these services aiding people in desperate need.

There are also other, welcome off-shoots of this work. Bolton Community Kitchen, for example, now reaches 50 of the town’s most struggling individuals, like rough sleepers, every Tuesday at the YMCA building on Deansgate.

Sharon Ashworth set up the group, and police officers were so impressed with its work - and its help in cutting crime - that they donated £2,500 from the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) cash available for the community.

The group gives out a hot meal and packed lunch to take away, and visitors on Tuesday evenings can also wash and have access to clean clothes and toiletries.

This is doing a fantastic job for local people, and you can bet that there’s also a great spirit among the volunteers – just like there is at other food banks locally and in other charitable groups.

When you are drawn together for a common purpose in helping others, it offers a level playing field where volunteers become part of a dedicated movement with a useful purpose.

Nor is it ever all serious intentions and good works. I can tell you from the group of ladies I work with each week in the Children Today charity shop in Bolton town centre that we have plenty of laughs.

None of them are do-gooders, but they’re all prepared to give their time and energy to help others – and they get so much back themselves.