Holbeck Elderly Aid (HEA) are delighted to announce that they have completed stage one of their ambitious project to develop the facilities at St. Matthew’s Community Centre, Holbeck.
The state of the art gas-interlock ventilation system has already improved the atmosphere at the weekly lunches and community café. Sue Cawthray, a café regular, welcomed the upgraded facilities “it’s improved the ambience, you can really notice the difference”.
The team at HEA are already making the most of the improved facilities having launched an extension of their current services. ‘Tea and Toast’ runs from 10am till 12pm on a Tuesday and Friday, providing a friendly place where people can read the paper, chat with friends and play the odd game over a morning cuppa and a healthy breakfast.
The ventilation system provides the necessary first stage of the bigger project of upgrading the entire kitchen. HEA secured funding for the project from the Ideas that Change Lives grant through the Leeds Community Foundation, which is funded by Leeds City Council.
The idea was to develop the kitchen for the whole community of Holbeck. By bringing it up to compliance with commercial kitchen standards, HEA have enabled it to function in a number of ways for those who want to use it. Stage two, fitting the rest of the kitchen, will begin in October.
The new kitchen is one part of HEA’s long-term plan to extend the development of the charity’s catering services for the community. This plan involves working towards providing a Meals on Wheels service for the older people of Holbeck and HEA have secured an additional £10,000 funding from Awards for All at the Big Lottery Fund to make this dream a reality.
Watch this space for the new developments and join us at the community café on Thursday from 10am-12pm and Lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 12:15-1:30pm. Call the office on (0113) 245 5553 for more details.
This post was written by Bryony Redwood-Turner using our Create an article for South Leeds Life page.
