Callum Wilson grabs a tin from the Gateshead Foodbank crates and has a flashback. “That’s mine!” he says. “I’d hunt out the tinned fruit with the cherries and fruit salads in our food parcel. My favourite.”
The England and Newcastle forward admits he used to be embarrassed to tell teammates his mum and five brothers and sisters struggled so much they needed donations to make ends meet.
That was 20 years ago and now he’s a World Cup striker, helping to pack food boxes for some of the 10,000 needy in Gateshead. “I have realised there’s no shame, that it is part of my journey,” says Callum.
