LUNCH CLUB CELEBRATES ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY

Syston Lunch Club celebrated its tenth anniversary on the 17th November thanks to a Biffaward and a grant from the Leicester North Methodist Circuit.

A year ago doubts were expressed as to the ability of the Syston Lunch Club to continue to provide lunches for the elderly of Syston and the surrounding villages. The kitchen on which the Club was centred was too small, their cooker only half cooked the food, the water heater often failed to do its job and the extraction system condemned as unfit for purpose. Added to which was the colossal task of manually washing up after each meal when volunteers had already spent a tiring morning washing down, preparing and cooking the food, setting up the hall and serving the meal.

A meeting was held to discuss the situation and the Trustees of the Syston Methodist Centre agreed to extend the kitchen and improve the storage facilities. The cost of replacing the equipment together with a much needed commercial dishwasher would be £10,000, a sum outside the existing resources of both the Trustees and the Lunch Club and, if the project was to be undertaken, would take several years to raise that sum.

An application was made to the Biffaward Small Grants Scheme for Community Projects and an award for £5,000 was made to the Lunch Club for the project. The Trustees of the Centre was given a grant of £4,000 towards the project by the Leicester North Methodist Circuit leaving the Lunch Club to find £1,000 to complete the funding requirements.

The news that the project was viable product considerable excitement amongst the members of Organising Committee and the volunteer helpers. Equipment was researched, kitchen layouts were planned and agreement reached on the detail. Despite a number of difficulties related to timing when suppliers and installers worked hard to keep the kitchen going with a minimum of disruption to the catering schedule the re-vamped kitchen is now in use and is praised by those who use it.

A formal opening of the Kitchen took place during a celebratory Afternoon Tea, when those who started the Syston Lunch Club in November 1999 were available to join the Lunch Club to do the honours.

Our grateful thanks go to the Biffaward Scheme and the Leicester North Methodist Circuit, without whose financial help and support the project would not have been achievable and the elderly living in Syston and the surrounding villages would have lost their much needed and valued Lunch Cub. Additionally, a number of other community groups will be able to make use of the new facilities.