Establishing a Pabulum Cafe at Fairland Church Centre, Wymondham
(Pabulum Cafes promote the improvement of the lives and well-being of people with dementia and their carers)
Our work with Age Concern Norfolk to achieve the establishment of a Pabulum Cafe at The Fairland Church Centre took a major step forward on the 21st November when we held a very successful open day to inform members of the public, potential funders and people who might use the service of such a cafe.
The encouragement received and strong local interest from carers and those affected by dementia has confirmed that there is a need for such a provision. We will now work with Age Concern Norfolk to establish a representative local committee to seek funding which might well be available through grants from the Town Council and South Norfolk Council.
Four local organisations attended the open day and each of those indicated that they supported the project and would be prepared to consider providing a grant to help us get started. We have also had seven definite offers from visitors to volunteer which we will be following up and Age Concern Norfolk will provide a training course for all of our volunteers in the new year, assuming we go ahead.
Our initial plan is to provide a Cafe on Friday mornings once per month but if funding allows we would like to open each Friday. Our calculations suggest that the cost of each opening would be about £150 which includes the wages of a paid co-ordinator. We were also very encouraged on the 23rd November when the Church Meeting at Fairland voted unanimously to provide the Church Centre free of charge until such time as sufficient funds were available. This will enable us to get started earlier than expected.
Also our grateful thanks to church members for all their work in helping with the preparation of the day, serving refreshments and making our visitors welcome and a particular thank you to Paul and Caroline from Age Concern Norfolk for their professional support and provision of all the necessary equipment and information.
We would be delighted to hear from anyone else who would like to attend the Wymondham Pabulum Cafe or offer funding support or those who may wish to volunteer their services to support us.
Finally, our thanks to Waitrose who kindly provided the lunch on our open day.
Trevor Brown
e-mail trevor-brown@fairlandurc.org.uk
25th November, 2008
December 16th, 2008