Local growers and producers are celebrating a record breaking fortnight thanks to the East of England Co-op’s Sourced Locally campaign - which this year broke all records and saw more than £1m of sales over the two-week retail drive.

The campaign, which encourages customers to swap products in their basket for local alternatives, ran from June 1 to 15 across food stores across Suffolk< Essex and Norfolk.

The promotion fell just short of the magic number last year with £999,000 worth of goods sold but 2019 was a record breaking year and sales topped £1m.

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Joint boss Roger Grosvenor said the chain was "absolutely delighted" to pass the £1m mark this year.

"We are so fortunate to have delicious, fresh produce on our doorsteps and this campaign has truly celebrated the journey from field and farm to fork," he said.

"It has been incredible to see our loyal customers make a real effort to support our local producers."

Throughout the campaign, nearly 57,000 punnets of strawberries, over 11,000 punnets of raspberries, almost 10,000 packs of sandwich ham trim and almost 600 bottles of Adnams Copper House gin were sold.

There were also almost 5,000 Taste of Suffolk breakfast packs sold during the fortnight, with locally sourced sausages, bacon and burgers and a free pack of four Havensfield eggs.

The 2019 campaign kicked off with a food and wine pairing event at Toppesfield Vineyard - a wine supplier to the retail chain - toasting the variety of local suppliers.

Thousands of products were available, ranging from fruit and vegetables, jams and chutneys, to meats, fish, pies, fruit juices and wines.

An All-Day Breakfast Roadshow toured Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, with more than 3,000 breakfast baps in 10 locations were given away, and special events were held across the counties.

In Ipswich, students from Suffolk New College took part in a 'Masterchef-style' cook-off using locally sourced products.

At Norwich train station, the East of England Co-op gave away free burgers while the crowds were entertained by rock, pop and soul choir Invidia Voices.

In Colchester, there was a competition which saw participants eat as many sausages as they could in one minute and free sausage butties were given away.