Great news, we’ve overcome some of the funding challenges to get ‘BoB’ off the ground!

We have received a “start-up” grant from CoS Trustees and a generous donation from Poulton charity Just Connections, enabling the café to open in May.   These funds mean the BoB café is secure for the foreseeable future.  We can also act on our Easter survey about activities ASR men want to join over the summer.  

Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash

BoB Café, an initiative aimed solely for men, is now established every Friday.  So many men decided to call in over the first four weeks that we had to move to bigger rooms towards the back of the building.  So far we have served 56 ASR men with the support of five male volunteers and the assistance of two ladies during our first couple of weeks.  

Food is a big part of our plans and we are grateful to Murray for sharing his recipes and expertise.  He prepares light meals and snacks for the café so guys can eat before afternoon ESOL classes; and we have also submitted a bid to enable us to run a regular monthly cooking group from the Autumn.  Fingers crossed for the funding to come through

The summer holidays can be quite challenging for ASR men as their regular routine of classes disappears and alternative activities on a tight budget can be hard to find.  With this in mind we are hoping to offer a summer programme with park sports, walking, pottery and music workshops running along with our regular football and the café.  Please get in touch ([email protected] – reference BoB) if you can offer any time to support these activities; the amount we can offer will depend heavily on the availability of volunteers.

Watch this space!

Photo by NONRESIDENT on Unsplash