Lunch Clubs

Open to all

Our clubs are open to any adult over the age of 18, and you don’t need to wait to be referred. You, or a family member or friend, can call and ask about joining us to become a member.

Open all year round

We are open all year round and you can join at any time.

If you prefer, you can ask any professional, such as your GP, Social Prescriber, or mental health nurse, to ask us about a place for you.

Each lunch club meets in a local community venue where you will be welcomed by our team. Each lunch club is led by a staff Club Leader and Chef/Cook, who are supported by our fantastic volunteers. We have around 80 volunteers regularly helping across all our clubs, and we wouldn’t be able to run without them. If you are interested in being a volunteer, click here for more information.

Contribution

All clubs meet most weeks (we close between Christmas and New Year) from around 11.30am until 2.00pm.

There is a £8.00 contribution charge for each club meeting which includes access to our community support service, a freshly cooked 3-course meal, information and signposting to other services and activities.

This charge helps us to sustain our service, helping to pay for things like staff salaries and venue rental charges. The bulk of the cost of running a lunch club is provided through grant income and other local fund-raising activity.

Club members fundraise themselves with small raffles or a ‘50p club’ to support occasional trips and entertainments.

In some circumstances, we understand that finding the extra money to pay for a club visit might be too much for some people. As a charity, we offer a discretional charging policy. If the current charge will prevent you from attending, please talk to us and we can discuss this with you confidentially. Any such request will always be handled with discretion and sensitivity.

Getting there

Getting to and from your club is usually your own responsibility. However, we know it can be expensive and challenging to arrange in our rural area.

If the cost of transport creates a barrier to coming along, in some cases we can arrange transport with local taxi companies or volunteer drivers, and some clubs have scheduled minibuses to take you door-to-door. Please ask about this if you feel that the cost of getting to a lunch club will stop you from joining.

Please note: we cannot provide personal care. All lunch club members must be able to walk on their own into a venue and be able to take care of their own personal needs. However, we welcome carers to attend with a cared for person (paid for agency carers attend for free), and assistance dogs are welcome too.

Full of fun and laughter

Having somewhere regular to go to for a meal can improve mental health by providing the stimulation and motivation we need to go out to meet with others, especially as we get older, or become less mobile than we were.

If you ever feel lonely?

Sometimes life can be lonely for many of us, and it’s easy to become more isolated than we want to be when life changes, is challenging, or when things go wrong. Studies show that socialising and eating with others in a safe warm environment is always beneficial to our overall health and well-being. 

Be part of the lunch club community

Our clubs are about much more than having lunch. The role of a Club Leaders is to ensure that everyone is safe, can participate in the way they wish to, and always feels welcomed. They also provide light-touch welfare support. For example, if someone unexpectedly does not turn up, they will follow up to ensure that the person is well, and that nothing untoward has happened at home. For this reason, we require personal contact details for a family or friend that we can contact at times of emergency when you join. They can also refer any problems or issue you have to our community support service.

Our friendly staff are professionally trained and hold food hygiene and first aid certificates. Club Leaders are DBS checked and safeguarding is a priority.