Cafe Culture by One to One Development Trust

Limited Edition - March 2013 www.cafeculturewakefield.co.uk “Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” ― Ruth Reichl

Contents Introduction by Dr Andrew Furber 4 About Café Culture by Judi Alston

The Place, Airedale 8 The T Bar, Kinsley 20 No. 26 - Sheila’s Diner, Portobello

Addy’s Café, Knottingley 44 Acknowledgements 58

Introduction I am delighted to be able to write a few words about the Café Culture project funded through Wakefield Council Creative Partners, Wakefield and District Housing and Public Health. Café Culture is a vibrant, engaging multimedia project set in Airedale, Knottingley, Portobello and Kinsley. Café Culture uses the arts to demonstrate and promote all that community cafés offer as healthy, safe, cultural spaces. The need for such spaces within our communities has never been greater. I am writing this foreword in the wake of the horsemeat scandal and with daily headlines about the challenge of obesity. Many people living in the district struggle to buy affordable, healthy food. The stress of living through the current recession does not help. In this context community cafés can offer hope. Many people have learned through their visits to these cafés that healthy food can be prepared quickly and cheaply. Whilst processed foods can

seem attractive and quick, in reality they are often unhealthy and more expensive than preparing your own meal. Community café provide a safe space where people can admit how little they know about preparing food and learn the basics. The Café Culture project captures some of this development in a way that can be celebrated – individuals gaining new skills and confidence, families becoming more resilient and communities taking control.

“The need for such spaces within our communities has never been greater.” Cooking skills and a better understanding of food is not enough. Many people lack confidence. One in four people will experience mental health problems during their lifetime. Low level stress and depression are very common and can be extremely disabling. Again community cafés provide that safe place where confidence can be built, social isolation overcome and friendships developed. The importance of developing wellbeing rather than just physical health in our communities cannot be overstated.

Research tells us there are five ways to wellbeing: • Connect… With the people around you. • Be active… Step outside. Exercising makes you feel good. • Take notice… Be curious. Savour the moment • Keep learning… Try something new. • Give… Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Community cafés can help with all of these. But understanding the difference that has been made can be difficult when our wellbeing is necessarily subjective. This is where the Café Culture project can capture the impact and applaud the achievements of individuals and communities. I hope you enjoy this book and that it encourages you to find out about and visit the community café in your area.

Dr Andrew Furber

Director of Public Health Wakefield Council

Café Culture Café Culture is a media arts project focused on four community cafés in the Wakefield District. Through film making, storytelling, photography/digital imagery and song, a vivid creative picture of what makes a successful community café and their unique place within each community has been captured. Participants of Café Culture are café regulars, staff and volunteers, community activists and agency representatives. Each of the cafés is based in a Priority Area defined by Wakefield Together as being in the 10% most deprived areas of the district. Agencies are working hard to reduce inequalities and improve the quality of life at a neighbourhood level. The Place, Airedale; No. 26 - Sheila’s Diner, Portobello; Addy’s Café, Knottingley; and the T-bar, Kinsley and Fitzwilliam Learning and Community Centre are four very different community spaces. The way they run, the length of operation and the size vary considerably, but what links them together is their offering to the local community and the loyal customer base in each setting.

Community cafés provide a day to day safe space, a place where people feel that they belong; supportive relationships and social networks are cultivated. The cafés also have a positive impact on their communities; they are a hub, a vital meeting place, somewhere to come together, to share the ups and downs of life or just to take time out from the rest of the day. The cafés offer a reduction in social isolation; provide volunteering opportunities, local jobs and skills development.

“What links these cafés together is their offering to the local community and the loyal customer base in each setting.” The community cafés featured in Café Culture all share the idea of providing healthy eating options at a low cost. Encouraging residents through the door to spend locally increases the local economy with some of the cafés now looking to source locally and increase their range of home-made dishes.

Café are great spaces to hold arts projects as they are a focal point for the community, a place to celebrate local heritage, explore and take part in culture and arts activities. Cafés can be transformed into gallery space, cinemas and performance areas. The support from local agencies working in these communities adds value and sustainability to the cafés. Wakefield has a growing number of community cafés; this is a great addition to the creative and social offer of the District and long may the cafés continue and thrive. Judi Alston Creative Director One to One Development Trust

The Place Airedale

Address The Airedale Centre The Square Airedale Castleford WF10 3JJ Phone: 07981 815337 Email: hello@healthyeatingandlifestyle.org.uk Website: www.healthyeatingandlifestyle.org.uk Twitter: @healthyeatnlife Facebook: facebook.com/pages/ Healthy-Eating-and-Lifestyle-LtdHEAL/184323754931986 Main contacts Debra Atkinson & Clair Mason Café Opened March 2011 Current Staffing and Management No. of staff: 3 full time, 2 part time No. of volunteers: 7 Managed by: HEAL (Heathly Eating And 9Lifestyle), a social enterprise

Ethos “We have a management ethos that we should work hard but that work should be rewarding and nourishing to everyone involved in the organisation, whether paid staff, volunteers, partner organisations, customers, in fact, anyone that we come into contact with. This came about from us both being in work where it was so horrible that you woke up crying in a morning, we vowed that we would create an organisation where we do our absolute best to never make anyone feel like we had, to create a space where people are valued and respected for who they are, where everyone feels a part of the organisation.” - Clair Mason

“It’s made my life lovely volunteering here. I love working here and helping out. I don’t know where I’d be without this lovely café.” Two top tips for running a Community Café 1. Go and visit other projects to see how they run 2. Don’t be precious, share knowledge and understanding 9

Signature Dish Flapjack (serves 15) 250g butter or margarine 6 tablespoons of brown sugar 3 tablespoons of honey 500g oats (add a few more if needed) 4oz of any dried fruit 5oz of glace cherries or fruit (banana, cranberries) chopped with a sprinkle of cocoa powder Melt the butter, sugar and honey until dissolved, then add in the oats and fruit, mix well. Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and press the mixture in firmly, make sure it goes into all the corners and is firm to the touch. Bake at Gas mark 6 / 400f / 200c for around 20-25 mins or until golden brown. Cut into slices while it’s still hot but allow to fully cool before taking out of the tray.

“You don’t get this atmosphere anywhere else; it’s a good place to relax.” er, autumn, sprin g or winter Summ i b L r ary and n the entre e C e t h y w l e i t F a m Be way to services for body and mind Gate shment of the pleasantest kind Nouri illing nd crafts with friends , or just ch Arts a ng a lump of fl ap-jack, profoundly fulfi lli h t i W kind of sustenance serve up on a plate y r e d v E h e t c n afé at t . a ff i he Place await The st ace to meet, the Place to eat The Pl lace to get you back on your feet. The p

“It’s the hub of the community; more and more people are coming to use it.”

Drop In Debra, one of the two sister-partners who run the café, is eloquently clear about their shared vision. They want the café to be a central hub for the whole community. In an aside guaranteed to discomfort the most cynical commentator she adds, ‘everything we do, we do with love,’ yet the overall atmosphere at The Place displays no hint of preachiness or revivalist meeting enthusiasm. Speak to the sisters, listen to their back-stories, witness their day-to-day commitment to the vision and you are soon convinced. They mean everything they say.

you feel yourself alone n e h W you feel it to the bo ne When a n t w g u o od comp yo any When o y u e n r e e ed to be wh This is

season of the year Every an fi nd us gathered You c here n a d e f d a i s c e to fac Side by e b a l t e s e a h t t the pla Round ce 11

Groups Airedale Friends The ‘Airedale Friends’ group sums up that spirit at work. Group-members can be found on any day, tucking into occasional breakfasts, dinners, or snacking quietly in between appointments. Monday afternoons, they meet together formally as a group to enjoy a range of activities; arts and crafts, ‘knit and natter,’ cooking, making story-sacks, decorations for the café walls, Halloween and Bonfire night paraphernalia, Christmas wreaths, armchair exercise for those with restricted mobility, as well as encouraging each other to move on, for example into adult education courses. Joan runs the group on a voluntary basis. She describes her own journey out of depression and debilitating obesity. In a single year she has shed eight stones. She is now an advocate of healthy eating and drinking as well as regular exercise. Joan wants to share what’s possible. Building up the confidence of vulnerable members and trying ‘to get folk out of their shells.’

“Coming here has really made me happy, it’s colourful, clean, and it’s beautiful.” 13

Mums’ Group “All my friends are here and I made most of them here.” The café is able to nurture other groups that spring up in response to community needs. One determined gathering of young mothers assembles in the café for mutual support around issues of breastfeeding. The women articulate the difficulties involved in feeding successfully, particularly when young mothers are isolated, or unsupported by family or partners. Group-members offer each other advice, reassurance and encouragement. Growing confidence is broadening the agenda into more wide-ranging discussions of women’s roles and status, including the media’s role in undercutting ‘trust’ in women’s sense of themselves doing what nature intended.

here we wan t to be This is w This is our commun ity

h and welcome g Warmt uaran

tee

n need are frie Friends i nds ind ee d

After School Club re piling in from schoo a s d i l K i t h w t hem as s are a rule Mam e c ’ s a l v P e stibule In the ce is ace for making T’Pla stuff l k i n n g i of an e tw ye In the two or three feet high Tables n hundred thin Fiftee gs to try e c T’Pla is ace for ma king stuff es’ hats as black as ink h c t i W er hair be red or pink ? Will h y l o x p e h h one a p t link Give is ace for m T’Place aking stuff your sticky tape aroun d Wind n d u o a r n d round nd and round Round a that crackly, spr ackly sound Make c e a for mak ce is ing stuff T’Pla Every kid can innovate Improvise and re-cre ate m a m s , they t he hink it’s great Ask t ce is ace for making T’Pla stuff 15

Photo

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We all have the same aims with our projects but rather than working in isolation we are pulling our resources together and its getting results.â&#x20AC;?

Partnerships The café offers an encouraging environment, warm, welcoming and intimate. They organise regular sessions with NHS health and wellbeing activators and other outreach workers across a range of health issues. Traditional diets are challenged. Carbs, proteins and fresh fruit have entered the general conversation. Everything cooked in the café or available on the menu reflects those agreed priorities. It is no coincidence that the children’s story-sack created by the Airedale Friends Group turns out to be that celebrated hymn of praise to healthy and nourishing eating, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar.’ An ‘Eat Well’ award certificate sits framed on the wall behind the counter. Café workers are all proud of this achievement. The ‘Eat Well’ plate mounted on the wall to the left of the serving area, modestly acknowledging that collective success makes unmistakably visible The Place’s overarching ethos, as well as paying more than lip service to the group’s developing prowess in arts and crafts!

“People often feel more comfortable talking to PCSOs here, they get to know us and see a friendly face. It makes us more approachable.”

l, move more Eat wel , live l onger message e h t d a e deepe Spr r, stronger Change 4 Life workers agree m ’ e y a h n t l s conne ‘Hea ct all three This is our commu nal spa ce i d c a e t D ed to the Pl ace Creativity for all Represented wall to wall 17

Aspirations “I’d like to see the Café grow to be a bigger place to reach to more of the community.” We always saw the café as our first project, our company is called HEAL, Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Ltd. Our aims are to increase the health and wellbeing of people in the Wakefield District and surrounding areas. We would like to develop the café and have some more things going on in the café itself, new groups, some health and wellbeing courses, and more arts and crafts sessions. We’d like to look at maybe a creative writing group, which being based in the library would link in really well. We are looking at a number of projects based around emotional health and wellbeing and are in the process of developing a project around life skills and communication skills for people with learning disabilities. Food and nutrition will play a big part in all that we do. We are really excited about what the future holds for HEAL and The Place.

- Debra Atkinson 18

Hope is the glimmer, The glistening, The quiet soul listening. It’s the visceral churning, The butterflies, The yearning. It’s the dreams coming alive, Even when locked deep inside. It’s the embers.

Photo

It’s the phoenix. It’s me. © Clair Mason 2012

face friends, f Face to ace to face f r e i c e a n f d o s t a t the Face Place

The T Bar

Kinsley & Fitzwilliam Learning and Community Centre Address Kinsley & Fitzwilliam Learning and Community Centre Wakefield Road Kinsley Pontefract WF9 5BP Phone: 01977 610 931 Email: mrayner@kinsley-fitzwilliam.org.uk Facebook: facebook.com/kinsley.fitzwilliam

Ethos Our ethos is to provide a community café where people have access to good food at low prices and can meet and make friends in the community Two top tips for running a Community Café 1. Give people what they want to eat but try and prepare/cook it more healthily 2. Be realistic and not expect to make a profit

Website: www.kfcommunitycentre.co.uk Main contact Michelle Rayner Café Opened September 2002 Current Staffing and Management No. of staff: 2 full time No. of volunteers: work placement opportunities Managed by: Kinsley & Fitzwilliam Learning and Community Centre Ltd (not for profit organisation) 21

Signature Dish Chicken Fajita Chicken Peppers Onions Tortilla Wraps Place chicken in pan and fry. When cooked place peppers and onion in pan. Sauté until soft. Then add fajita spice mix and stir all together. Add fajita to a warm tortilla wrap and put together with a crispy side salad. Serve with a salsa sauce.

é’s won its ‘Ea The caf t W e ll ’ award n e n r i s d regula For rly hig hly scored g y o e t h t t o t d ay ch ‘Wha alked up on the board?’ Even the babies are licking their lips

“The café has grown over the last few years, it’s better now, more food and more space.”

Drop In The café sits at the crux of a network of busy intersecting activities. The Community Centre hosts a whole range of different educational, training and health-related developmental activities. Posters and adverts on notice boards publicise maths, English, child-care, office administration, ICT, plumbing, floristry, support teacher certificates, retail team-leader and volunteering courses. Sexual health and wellbeing check-ups rub shoulders with Regional Growth Forum consultations and ‘Homemade cakes for every occasion.’ Young mothers taking babies for doctor’s appointments, some with kids in the Red Roof nursery, or already in school take advantage of breakfast. Others meet up for a ‘cuppa and a cal’ before the Wednesday ‘parent and toddler,’ or Granny Ann’s ‘Mamz, Nanz, and Kidz’group. Local workers or passers-by in need of sustenance park themselves alongside students, participants or spectators. What they all have in common is the café’s food and drink.

Everyone cites the atmosphere, the welcoming environment, the economical price, the quality of the food, and the cheery company, as reasons for choosing the café. Meals are consciously ‘healthy.’ Winning a ‘Good Food Award’ has filled the staff with pride and lunch every day is cooked with the same aspiration, that shared commitment to ‘quality.’ A culture of mutual banter is the only thing in this café hanging in the air. Some people with learning disabilities, one in a wheel-chair, come for Keep Fit. They participate also in the Thursday morning ‘walking group.’ Time in the café is part of the whole therapeutic experience.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;This centre and the cafĂŠ is the best thing that ever happened to this community.â&#x20AC;? 25

Groups Mamz, Granz and Kidz Group “Doing the photos has been good, I’m giving mine to my husband as he’s serving in Afghanistan so he has nice pictures of the kids.” ans have all g “The gr ot a ta le to tell m o s e s g o n ’ i t’ litt ‘It br le uns l out o’ their she l’ s with some o It work f the m ams as well r a t t s to unw As they ind if not relax

can’t say it ’s tota Well you lly void of stress l w a a s y d i s know Cos k which buttons to press t i o It’s a b f a breath er, more or less n e e o w c t c a e siona In b l heart attacks

the café, the n join Meet in the troop z m a a n M d e N h anz a Of t nd Kidz group, whoo! Give us a celebratory w hoop m a z M a e n h t d Na For nz and , yea h ” Kidz group 26

“The group is friendly and fun. Since the café’s been extended we can get our pushchairs in and meet up beforehand.”

Helping Hands Tuesday and Thursday mornings the café serves as a waiting room for those queuing to see the ‘Helping Hands’ welfare rights advisors. To speak to those waiting is a chastening experience. Some arrive as early 8:30am for the 10am start. Tickets are collected first-come first-served from the office, and often people are still sitting there two hours later, without a murmur of complaint or frustration. Some cases are immensely complicated. Welfare legislation is intimidating. The forms individuals have to fill in to pursue their entitlements are increasingly impenetrable. What you do hear is fulsome praise for the two ‘Helping Hands’ workers, who almost unbelievably offer their energies and skills on a completely voluntary basis and provide a service beyond value.

People speak openly about ways they’ve been helped to confront seemingly insuperable problems. Lots of teas and coffees are drunk. Modest breakfasts consumed. ‘It makes you feel so bad about yourself,’ one woman says,’ when you’ve worked all your life and never claimed a penny, then when you need help they (society) make you feel like a scrounger.’

“A lot of people feel suicidal. They often say ‘what have I got to live for? Others suffer depression. Some finished on ill health after work-place accidents. One hasn’t left the house for three years. Her Union will fight her case but she can’t bear the thought of completing the copious forms. Everyone fears the forms. ‘Lots of people can’t walk without crutches,’ says a man with a stick,’ that’s what Helping Hands is, a crutch for them that needs it.’

Walking Group “The café is our base, we start and end our walks here. Good social time with a cuppa.” Health Trainers helped set up the Walking Group and got the policies and procedures sorted out. The group now operates as an independent voluntary group. There’s a lot of mental illness and depression in this area. Groups like the walking group bring people together and get them out doing healthy activity.

“I’ve met a nice group of friends coming to this group, it’s so much more than just a walking group”. “Walking on your own can be a bit lonely, I’ve always walked a lot, but the way things are now I feel safer in a group, it gets you out and I like the chat.” “Whatever problems peoples’ got, it just gets your joints going and gives you fresh air. It’s just brilliant.” 28

Partnerships “We all have a bit of a banter and get on with each other, it’s like a family.” The café expansion was funded through Coalfield Regeneration Trust, Public Health, Big Lottery and Hemsworth Town Council. The money was all for capital spend i.e. the building works although the Public Health money had specific outputs in terms of healthy eating. The T Bar is used by lots of services like Wakefield Council who meet people in the café as it’s an informal way of talking to the community.

The Centre offers a diverse range of courses and activities and the café is an important part of what’s on offer. It feeds the children in the nursery, there are 22 staff, 3 managed workspaces and lots of students.

“People round here call a spade a spade, there’s a friendliness in these two villages that you don’t get elsewhere, it’s a way of life.”

â&#x20AC;&#x153;All I want for my children is for them to be safe and happy.â&#x20AC;? 30

Aspirations “The café is a vital resource, it’s a warm and welcoming place. It brings people together it’s as simple as that.” We want to encourage people to eat more healthily by choosing the healthier food options available on the café menu. We’ve already outgrown the new bigger café, so we would like to make it bigger again and expand it further. We’d like to make it visible from the road so people passing can see it better and will be more inclined to call in. We’d like to do things in holiday times such as projects and activities that draw more people in, so it’s not just a café it’s a project area.

- Michelle Rayner “It’s a happy village and people are really good; we need to keep it nice for the kids growing up and the Café helps keep bringing people together.”

No.26 - Rainbow Café & Sheila’s Diner Portobello

Address 26 Duke of York Avenue Portobello Wakefield WF2 7BY Telephone 01924 249 598 Main contacts Sally Martin – General Enquiries Sheila Brook – Sheila’s Diner Opened July 2005 Current Staffing and Management No. of staff: 0 No. of volunteers (Sheila’s Diner): 3 Managed by: Portobello Community Forum, a small charity set up to give a voice from the Portobello estate and help co-ordinate the work of public and voluntary sector agencies working in the area. 33

That’s the story,

health y eating

Note the café’s b rand n ew seating Courtesy o’ t’ Netw ork meeting Down at Sheila ’s Dine r Ethos A true community café - a space for any community activities that promote healthy eating and food where people can come together and feel safe. No 26 is here to respond to what people want and need as and when it arises. Two top tips for running a Community Café 1. Local people have a big part in it 2. An inspiring manager who can use the space creatively

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Portobello is a close knit community, everybody knows everybody and people look out for each other.â&#x20AC;?

Brief History A short row of shops in the middle of Duke of York Avenue houses what used to be ‘The Rainbow Café.’ Set up by the Portobello Community Forum to help address local problems and create a focal point on the estate, the café has gone through many phases and has been home to a range of activities. Each summer Soul Portobello is a highlight on the estate. This week-long festival brings together a celebration of community and stakeholder organisations. Each year the event has grown and ends with a ‘Portobello’s Got Talent’ event. In 2012/13 the café was re-branded ‘No 26’. It’s becoming a hub for different projects and groups. Tuesdays and Thursdays are particularly popular, when the café transforms into Sheila’s Diner.

4 Life mean Change s heal thy food Food for every kind of mood v e e n r them Fo with a ttitude Here at She ila’s Diner

Sheila’s Diner Sheila is the major figure in a small team of volunteers still in the early days of defining what the Diner can do with and for the local community. ‘Healthy eating’ as a first step towards ‘wellbeing’ seems to sum it up. The café works closely with NHS Healthy Eating worker Bev to devise practical ways of spreading the message, including cooking sessions on days when the Diner is not open, for ‘older people,’ and ‘Families,’ as well as after-school cooking for children. Sheila’s ambition is to go to Graceland. Her passion for Elvis is revealed in the café’s décor, Presley portraits, glittery musical notes and shimmery stars peppering the walls.

Sheila’s colleagues in the kitchen are Annie, and Annie’s grandma Iris, known to everyone as Gran. Gran’s scones are legendary The backdrop to every activity is the chirrup and warble of kids’ voices. A quarter of the room is a play-area. Children are not inconveniences here, but part of the communal furniture. The toing and froing of kids between adults makes it difficult to figure out who belongs to whom. Sheila has been a foster-carer for years. One foster-son did the Elvis pictures. The Diner is an extension of that fostering.

‘It’s like the young lads who hang about outside the shops because there’s nowhere else for them to meet. When I go to Asda to buy the stuff for the café, they’re here straight away to help you in with it.’

“We’re delivering lots of different sessions here from healthy eating, to learning how to cook, for different ages and different groups.” 37

Sheila’s Diner ‘It’s t’way you’re brought up that does it,’ adds Sheila, ‘and how you bring your own kids up.’ ‘Beller-dwellers,’ locals call themselves. A strong sense of communal togetherness is obvious. Café users will tell you.

“Outsiders think that Portobello’s a terrible place but that’s because they don’t know it!” Some of the lads eat at the café. You can get a Sunday dinner midweek.

“Sheila’s is fantastic. Where else can you get food that’s cheap for this quality? They do family meals that folk can afford. They do classes to get kids eatin’ healthy. People han’t got much money round here, and this is brilliant.”

“Without this we’d just walk by each other in the street and say ‘hello’.” Some of the lads wear hoodies and conform to those stereotypes easily applied to young men from many other estates or urban settings. Scary if you are of that mind. Outside the café is their collective meeting place, the geographical heart of the estate, where the summer ‘Soul Portobello’ festival is held. Unsurprisingly, there have been dialogues with Community Bobbies.

“It’s like a big family, here. It’s a close community. Everybody knows everybody, and they look out for each other. Not like big communities, where old folk get mugged. None o’ t’ old ladies here get mugged. We look out for ‘em. It’s us they ask to cut their grass!”

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We shop better now and pick things with low fat or no sugar.â&#x20AC;? 39

“People outside make out Portobello is bad but it isn’t really, it’s changed. But the bad reputation from years ago has stuck.” 40

Partnerships A lot of agencies work on the estate and The Portobello Community Forum encourages partnerships with a range of organisations including: NHS Wakefield District, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Wakefield Council, Groundwork, Wakefield and District Housing. The Forum also works with local voluntary sector organisations and schools. No 26 and Sheila’s Diner provide a great place for Portobello Community Forums’ partners to meet and run projects. Work through the NHS is continually developing and the café is now part of the Community Café Network. The range of groups and activities running at No 26 changes and is responsive to local need and opportunities.

Some outside

rs cho k

Bureaucrats w

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ill sm irk and cough r e s h n t i r p a is pay P ing off e a r t e Sheila H ’s Din er 41

“We’re delivering lots of different sessions here from healthy eating, to learning how to cook, for different ages and different groups.” 42

Aspirations We’d like to secure the future of the café and increase its links with the local schools, planning is underway with both the local primary and secondary schools. No 26 has the potential to be a training kitchen for groups and a great place for families to meet and eat. We’d like to encourage younger peoples’ groups to use it as a space to meet so we can give a voice to that generation.

- Sally Martin

n’s cooking a Childre fter sc hool s f ’ a y m a ilies a Frid s a rul e t i Coun ng calorie s is coo l Here at Sheila’s Diner o cook the he Learn t althy way e v n e , i l f you’ W el re goi ng grey Monday’s ‘Older People ’s Day’ Down at S heila’ s Diner

Addy’s Café Knottingley

Address The Old Quarry Adventure Playground c/o 93 Sycamore Avenue Knottingley WF11 0PJ Phone: 01977 670953 Email: hollyellisoqap@talktalkbusiness.net Facebook: facebook.com/ theaddyknottingley Twitter: @TheAddyWarwick Main contact Holly Ellis Café Opened October 2011 Current Staffing and Management No. of staff: 1 part time paid worker serves healthy snacks to children after school 5 days a week. No. of volunteers: 3 volunteers who are hands on in the kitchen preparing luncheon club meals for the elderly and food for events and meetings. Managed by: The Old Quarry Adventure Playground (charity) 45

“It’s a great kitchen and we want to do a lot more in it, but it’s early days and going well.” Ethos Local, passionate, committed staff and volunteers who have the drive to provide great snacks and meals for a hungry community from the ages of 0 – 99! Local people enjoy and benefit from affordable and nutritious food in a welcoming environment. The café is a place where food is served after school, people come to meet, exchange ideas, share skills and utilise talents. We cater for all and involve anyone who has a passion for development and working on our estate. The café is a place where we can appreciate and inspire one another! Two top tips for running a Community Café 1, Be Friendly, engage with the community, consult and make sure it’s to everyone’s taste – (Michelle, café playworker) 2. Come and get it while it’s hot! – (Anna volunteer cook) 45

Signature Dish Anna’s Scones 6 oz self raising flour 3 oz sugar 3 oz stork margarine Breadcrumb together with your hands Add some milk and mix in until it is a stiff consistency Add in cherries, sultanas, other fruit or cheese Divide them up and brush them with milk to make them go brown Put in a warm oven turning up the heat to 180-200 degrees c Enjoy especially fresh from Anna’s oven

“It’s the food and the company - just brilliant!”

ring kind of It’s a ca caff The friendliest of pla ces Where people k now, t o laugh Takes the wrinkle s from your faces So park your ski n and bones And sign up for a lunche on The sweetest litt le scon es And a sausage lik e a tru ncheon

“We’ve recently started trying out healthier food options for the playground sessions, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes are good fun and the kids are liking them.”

Brief History The café at the Addy is an undertaking brave in its determination and chastening in its accomplishment. The café offers its services at key times a week, these currently include when the Playground is open for sessions with children and young people, for the weekly luncheon club, to provide hospitality at regular resident/ agency meetings and for functions. The café is in the early stages of its development. Young people worked through the Café Culture project to name and brand the new café.

“If this weren’t here the youthie would be rubbish. Sometimes we get food and cook stuff.”

There’s fry up in the p an t e s a ’ e b r e a h gs in T the cad dy The kettle’s alw ays on In the café at the Addy

“In 2011/12 we got funding through Reaching Communities and then Big Local and UnLtd to develop our kitchen as a community café. It’s going great and has totally taken off.” 49

Older People’s Luncheon Club More specifically focused than some other ventures the Addy has dedicated itself to cooking and serving a healthy and fulsome meal to older people. The café can be found, one afternoon each week, in the big room of the hall adjacent to the children’s adventure playground, nestled deep at the heart of Knottingley’s Warwick Estate. The room will have been transformed, furnished and table-clothed by the team of trusty volunteers led by Centre Manager Holly. For two hours or so beforehand, under the direction of celebrated sconebaker Anna, the stainless steel surfaces of the kitchen have been ringing to the sounds of peeling, chopping, scraping and panning. The array of helpers varies week by week but occasionally can include a Community Bobby showing off his spudmashing technique.

flexible. One or two are in their sixties, most in their seventies, some well into their eighties and a couple over ninety. Out of the twenty to thirty regular attendees the vast majority are women. The banter is infectious, at times uproarious, like when Doreen shouts to the Bobby, ‘Don’t leave any bloody lumps in!’

Any ‘older person’ who can get to the Addy on a Thursday dinner-time can savour, for just three pounds, a handsome meat and two veg feast, plus sweet, with a game of bingo chucked in. The definition of ‘older person’ seems encouragingly

Let’s raise up a song f or the grannies o s f the W The nan arwic k Estate u p d t e h eir pe Who sav nnies and ha’pennies And made us what w e are today

Residents on Warwick, or from surrounding communities, comment on how difficult a place the estate is to travel to. Holly organises transport to the Addy for those who find it problematic. The majority of café users are in good spirits when they arrive. For some it’s their only outing all week and they seem determined to make the best of their short time in good company. And the verdict on the food is unanimous. ‘Beautiful love, beautiful.’

‘It gets you out o’ t’ house love, sometimes you don’t see anyone for days.’ ‘And we have a laugh. Having a laugh is good for you, it takes t’ wrinkles off your face.’

ndmothers never Our gra stopped cleaning s h a ing the And w whole of their lives boured from They la morni ng to evening And they were all mo thers and wives

e from the c They cam ountr y’s four corners They followed the m en and the coal t They ell us the ir stor ies to warn us g u h a l t ill the Then tears s tart to roll

Older People’s Luncheon Club As winter draws on, in conjunction with NHS workers and Age Concern, a fashion show is organised in the café, as an awareness-raising exercise to remind everyone of the necessity, along with a good diet, of dressing properly to keep warm. Particularly popular with the ladies are a couple of young male models strutting their stuff beneath an avalanche of encouraging hoots and catcalls.

our thermals Wear y and y our jumper t o s e k v e r ep th Sca e cold at b a y o o k l a u o l i y ttle p If lumpe r a t i s n ’ y pric It e to p ay

As one happily fed veteran puts it, ‘worth more than any number of leaflets or posters!’ A lull descends on the room as bingo paraphernalia is prepared, till the precise moment of ‘eyes down’ as a voice sails above the players’ heads. It’s Doreen offering a vote of thanks to the ‘spudmasher’.

Insulate yourself, k

eep thi nking ’ s t Tha the choru s to rep eat While the winter sun is sinking Maximise your b ody he at

“When you’re on your own like most of us are, it’s company. It gets you socialising and makes your day.” 53

“I’d like to see it open every day, it needs more staff and volunteers to make it work. And of course, funding.” 54

Partnerships “The luncheon club has really brought a lot of people together, residents, volunteers and agencies.” By working collaboratively with different partners who have influenced and supported the Addy Café in the past year, we have achieved great things and worked together and made the café more environmentally friendly, healthy and offering opportunities for work. One to One Development Trust have been inspiring in redeveloping the community spirit through working with the lunch club, children and young people and branding the café. The PCT have helped promote healthy lifestyles arranging special cook and eat sessions. The Addy Café has provided a space where communities’ members and agencies can meet together, a successful example of this is the Warwick Ahead - Big Local project.

Working with the police, Healthy Lifestyles, Job Centre Plus and Leeds Metropolitan University has brought in volunteers, providing advice and support. The café is a safe place where friendships are made, nurtured and shared. People are now reaping the benefits of this great appetizing café!

be rain ag ain It might It isn’t always sunny ry now and But eve then Someone tells you som ething funny a c k p a o S way y our ca res And forget your littl e paddy n o e p ut s o No n airs In the café at the Addy

Aspirations “The Addy is the heart of this community and we are working to make it go from strength to strength.“ We would like Addy’s Café to be open every day and certainly more regular hours. It is already a hub for the community but it could be so much more. We are keen to keep it user led and expand it based on residents’ needs and suggestions. On the estate we are trying to get growing projects off the ground and we would like to grow our own produce for the kitchen. We are keen to train up local people in catering and would like to offer a training programme linked to local schools for canteen staff.

- Holly Ellis “Volunteering at the Addy has changed my life and helped me engage much more in the community.”

“Recently the Wallbottle Pub closed down where our group, Recycled Teenagers, used to meet. So there’s nowhere to go. Without the Luncheon Club, there’d be nowt.” 57

Acknowledgements A very special thank you to all the residents, volunteers and staff who have taken part in Café Culture from The Place in Airedale, T-Bar at Kinsley, No 26 – Sheila’s Diner in Portobello and Addy’s Café in Knottingley. Key contacts in the communities deserve a mention, thank you for your help and support: Debra Atkinson, Clair Mason, Michelle Rayner, Sheila Brook, Sally Martin, Holly Ellis. The Café Culture film, book, songs, photographs, website and permanent art pieces has been made possible with funding from: Wakefield Council – Creative Partners, Public Health and Wakefield and District Housing. Thank you to staff from these organisations for your support: Public Health: - Dr A Furber, Jo Parkin, Rachel Wilcox, Helen Monks, Kerry Murphy | South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation: - Bev Juniper | Wakefield Council: - Andrew Balchin, the Creative

Partners Team | Wakefield and District Housing: - Helen Wordsworth One to One Development Trust’s Café Culture Project Team: Judi Alston - Creative director, print and film editor; Andy Campbell - Design, graphics and layout; Ray Hearne - Writer and musician; Dean Hinchliffe - Camera and film editor; Hannah Furlong - Photographer; Neil Ferguson - Sound engineer For more information and to see all of Café Culture online please visit www.cafeculturewakefield.co.uk Produced March 2013 by One to One Development Trust www.onetoonedevelopment.org For information about the The Wakefield Community Café Network contact Jo Parkin: Joparkin@wakefield.gov.uk