Frontline support café in Madeley is now open
A town in the heart of Telford has welcomed the arrival of a new community café with help from £10,000 funding from Telford & Wrekin Council.
The new Wellbeing Café on Madeley High Street will be a multi-purpose venue promoting independent living and helping reduce costs of care and support needs.
People with a wide range of conditions such as autism, multiple sclerosis, and dementia as well as vulnerable and homeless people looking for paths into the jobs market, will be able to access early advice and find their own solutions before needing support.
There will also be information about bespoke training and volunteer placements, supporting people to live safely and independently, access to hot meals for people in need or frozen meals to buy for unpaid family carers, are just some of the services the centre will deliver.
A successful application was made by the Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) to the council’s Capacity Building Fund as the café will offer preventative, community-based support, encouraging self-help and result in reduced demand on Council services.
The project has been made possible by a number of groups working in collaboration with Telford & Wrekin CVS to deliver health and social care projects on behalf of the council.
Firms including QTM Global Ltd, Tesco Madeley, CRU Technologies, Restaurant 1840 and DENSO Manufacturing Ltd have all made financial contributions to the start-up costs for the project while Denso have also managed and funded the significant refurbishment of the café, two rooms and donated a defibrillator.
Cabinet Member for People Services, Visitor Economy & partnerships (including voluntary sector), Councillor Rae Evans said: “Projects such as this are vital to our communities as they are within easy reach of people in the most need.
“It will provide a place to build friendships and support networks, a place for feeling safe and belonging to a community and give people a place to ask for help and link them to other services.
“We hope projects such as this will support more community-centered approaches to care and support and focus more on prevention for things like loneliness and where possible, providing help before situations become serious.”
The building, currently owned by ‘Stay’ provides support and housing for homeless people in Telford in the CHEC community resource Centre and promotes health and learning through access to information, services and training.
Telford and Wrekin CVS is a charity working to support communities in Telford and has taken over the lease at the property.
Chief Executive Officer of Telford & Wrekin CVS, Debbie Gibbon says: “We want to make sure people have access to support and remain well, close to their homes.
“Our project wouldn’t be possible without the support we have gained to date and we’re very lucky to have people believe in us. It’s important the café isn’t ‘owned’ by one service, it is being provided by the community and we are engaging with other services across the borough.”
Managing director Mark Hayward of DENSO Manufacturing UK Ltd - a major sponsor - said: “At DENSO we have a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework that enables our mission and core values to be translated into real actions that benefit Telford’s Community.
“We continue to champion the great work Telford CVS is doing and DENSO is delighted to be a part of such a unique initiative to provide support to some of the most vulnerable in our community.”
Search ‘Wellbeing Madeley Community Café’ on Facebook for further information or visit here.
Pictured: Paul O'Brien, senior manager finance, DENSO Manufacturing UK Ltd (DMUK) with Debbie Gibbon, chief executive officer of Telford & Wrekin Council for Voluntary Service
