Caritas Cafe in need of new manager

Thursday 07 February 2019

Partly serving as a means to give those living in Mill Street bedsits somewhere comfortable to meet, Caritas Cafe says it needs help to continue doing that work.

The trailblazing community project has been closed since before Christmas as it looks to become self-sufficient by hiring a new manager.

The Caritas Community Charitable Trust was set up in 2007 with the ultimate aim being to open a residential home in the future for adults with additional needs. Since then they have turned a thicketed area of wasteland into a market garden and fostered a 'pay it forward' culture within their bustling town centre cafe.

The Anglican Deanery bought the building for the Trust in 2013 and it has been run mostly by volunteers, however due to a lack of manager, it has been closed since 21 December last year. 

"Even though we're closed at the moment we've been meeting up with people who were used to coming to the cafe because it's important to them and to us," said trustee Margaret Ogier. 

"We're well placed in Mill Street as there are a lot of lonely people living in bedsits up there who benefit from having somewhere to meet with friends and have a good meal, it's a real community," she said. 

The cafe also benefits the volunteers who gain invaluable work experience in the cafe.

"One of the things that helps people who are struggling is actual physical work," she said. 

Another of the charity's trustees, Sandra Crittell, said the good work the trust does as a whole could not be underestimated. 

"The idea was to have a warm welcoming area inside, part of the idea is to break down the barriers in society. We have all sorts of people come into the cafe. One thing we see a lot of is our more able customers buying two meals so that someone else can benefit from that who is less able to pay. 

"It's just got to be the right person, someone who has experience of working in hospitality and working with volunteers," said Mrs Crittell about the new manager.