Cash boost for new lunch club at Leiston Centre
Friday, 21st November 2014.
A new lunch club for older people at the Leiston Community Centre in Haverhill has moved a step closer following a grant of £250 from St Edmundsbury borough councillor Paul McManus’ locality fund.
Age UK Suffolk has been working with a community group which meets for coffee each Monday morning at the Leiston Centre, in the hope of establishing a regular, low cost, monthly “Soup-a-Lunch” at the centre.
Local residents should keep an eye on their doormats because a short questionnaire will arrive in the next few days. It gives people a chance to say if they would like to attend such a club, or perhaps help the club as a volunteer.
There will be collection boxes for the questionnaires at Creations hairdressers in Leiston Road, at the town council offices in the Arts Centre, and through the letterbox at the Leiston Centre itself.
Gavin Hodge, community involvement and liaison officer for Age UK Suffolk, said: “This is a chance for people who live in the area to develop a new lunch club that could be of great benefit to older people, especially those who live alone and rarely get out and about.
"Joan Key has done wonders with her Monday coffee mornings and it will be great if we can find her a little bit of extra voluntary help to make this lunch club a reality.”
“My thanks also to Cllr McManus for his support, to Cllr Maureen Byrne for her keen interest in the project and also to the Mayor of Haverhill, Cllr Roger André, who hopes the town council would support the club by making the Leiston Centre rent free for the first year operation."
Cllr McManus said: “I think the Soup-a-Lunch club is a great idea. It will bring people together and go some way toward helping prevent the social isolation that some older people feel.
"St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s locality grants were set up to support the establishment of clubs such as this, that will bring real benefits to the local families and communities. I am really pleased to be able to support this initiative.”
Age UK Suffolk has been working with a community group which meets for coffee each Monday morning at the Leiston Centre, in the hope of establishing a regular, low cost, monthly “Soup-a-Lunch” at the centre.
Local residents should keep an eye on their doormats because a short questionnaire will arrive in the next few days. It gives people a chance to say if they would like to attend such a club, or perhaps help the club as a volunteer.
There will be collection boxes for the questionnaires at Creations hairdressers in Leiston Road, at the town council offices in the Arts Centre, and through the letterbox at the Leiston Centre itself.
Gavin Hodge, community involvement and liaison officer for Age UK Suffolk, said: “This is a chance for people who live in the area to develop a new lunch club that could be of great benefit to older people, especially those who live alone and rarely get out and about.
"Joan Key has done wonders with her Monday coffee mornings and it will be great if we can find her a little bit of extra voluntary help to make this lunch club a reality.”
“My thanks also to Cllr McManus for his support, to Cllr Maureen Byrne for her keen interest in the project and also to the Mayor of Haverhill, Cllr Roger André, who hopes the town council would support the club by making the Leiston Centre rent free for the first year operation."
Cllr McManus said: “I think the Soup-a-Lunch club is a great idea. It will bring people together and go some way toward helping prevent the social isolation that some older people feel.
"St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s locality grants were set up to support the establishment of clubs such as this, that will bring real benefits to the local families and communities. I am really pleased to be able to support this initiative.”
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