About Us

About us & What we do

Teesdale Day Clubs provide social activities for adults in Teesdale with the aim of reducing and preventing social exclusion, loneliness and isolation. We do this by providing a range of support services that help people to make social connections, improve health & wellbeing, and provide an easily accessible source of support and signposting to other services.

Services include weekly lunch clubs, activity groups such as craft workshops, gentle exercise classes, and afternoon teas. We also arrange occasional day visits to places in and around Teesdale.

Our history

In 1994, lunch clubs were created in Mickleton and Cotherstone by volunteers. This gradually grew into being a registered charitable association with a paid staff team, providing 10 lunch clubs across Teesdale. Largely aimed at, and attended by the older retired generation in the community, the lunch clubs have been running for over 30 years and are supported by a stable and committed team of over 70 volunteers.

In May 2022, the charity became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and also started to develop new and wider community activities to reach a wider audience in the recognition that not everyone wants to go to a lunch club, and it’s not only older people who become isolated and lonely.

Our vision, mission and aims

Our Vision is to enhance quality of life by offering supportive social opportunities to people facing social isolation in Teesdale.

Our Mission is to provide social networks in Teesdale that offer friendship and hospitality as well as help and support with day-to-day challenges.

Our aims are to:

Minimise the adverse impacts of social isolation and loneliness for adults in Teesdale.
Impact positively on people’s quality of life and health and wellbeing.
Support people to lead independent lives in their own home and remain in their own community
Create a variety and choice of volunteering opportunities that enable people to contribute within their local community.
Increase the number of people accessing support by exploring different ways to evolve and encourage relationships across the wider community.