Friday Lunch club

For older people

Every Friday from 12.30 - 2.00pm

Cost: £3.00

The week's star cook, Rachel Rigby

 Left: Lunch Club volunteers  Right Adrian Reith with sausages and Mediterranean vegetables

Lunch Club at the Centre at St Paul's has been running since 1999. Originally it was held once a month and later switched to every Friday during term time. In 2004, the staff of the Centre decided that henceforth, Lunch Club would be held 52 weeks a year. And so it came to pass. Even if Christmas Day falls on a Friday, the show still goes on.

At the Centre at St Paul's, we regard Friday Lunch Club as the "jewel in the crown". Lunch Club is more than meat and two veg, important though the food is. It's an opportunity to meet famiiar faces - and new ones - in a friendly environment. It's what a Social Policy student at ARU described in her dissertation as "an exercise in sociability". In short it's a social event where everyone is made to feel welcome. And they go home feeling well fed.

 Left: The first ever Lunch Club at the Centre at St Paul's in 1999. Seated right: Michael Beckett, vicar of St Pauls. Centre in pink: Phyllis Holmes, who celebrated her  91st  birthday in July 2006. Marion Lilley, still a regular at the age of 91 is to the left of the picture close to the back wall.  

Right:  Friday lunch June 2006 with Marion Lilley and Pyllis Holmes far right

 Lunch Club could not exist without volunteers. As anyone who's done it will tell you,  volunteering is a unique opportunity to find out  more about yourself and other people in a social setting while providing  a valuable service.  There's no hierarchy among Lunch Club volunteers, although it has to be said the cook is pretty important.  But so are the volunteers who dish up the food, serve it to guests, clear away afterwards and do the washing up.  Lunch Club's success is based on teamwork.

Attendance can be as high as 55. Most weeks it's around 45 including helpers and volunteers. The cook prepares a hot main course from fresh ingredients.  Someone else usually makes the pudding, often the night before. In winter we tend to have hot desserts; in summer we go for  fresh fruit in season. The cost is  £3.00 including a cup of tea or coffee.

At least 60% of Lunch Clubbers come from the Trumpington and Petersfield wards of Cambridge, in other words from the parish or the immediate vicinty. Some of them are members of the congregation of St Paul's. Others travel by public transport from Cherry Hinton to the south or Arbury and King's Hedges to the north. But it doesn't matter where people live - Lunch Club is open to everyone.

Lacey Anderson and his "digital accordion orchestra" providing Lunch Club with his unique brand of entertainment

We always need volunteers so we can continue to provide the quality of service on which we pride ourselves. If you are interested in volunteering, please call the office  on 01223 576899.

Similarly, if you are interested in coming to lunch or know a friend of relative who would enjoy the experience, please call the office or send an e-mail to office@centrestpauls.org.uk