An essential community cafe and food larder which operates from a local Methodist church based in St Annes on Sea, has received an overall £5,000 donation from various Masonic lodges and chapters within the South Fylde Group.
This comprises of a food and larder contribution valued at £2,000, coupled with £3,000 of charitable cheques. Wesley’s Cafe and Community Larder is at the heart of its local community and serves over four days per week, almost 1,000 substantial, quality meals per month to local people. It also provides a warm, welcoming, safe, non-denominational and hospitable venue for people to dine, meet for some company and share a cup of tea.
As well as nutritious and wholesome cooked food, Wesley’s Cafe provides teaching in cookery skills by Paul Caddy, who is a highly trained chef; helping to improve the lives of local and needy people by enabling them to cook for themselves. A number of south Fylde Masons help and volunteer in the cafe and support the fantastic work that Paul and the Wesley’s Café team carry out each and every week.
In support of the amazing work this community cafe carries out, a number of lodges and chapters within the group decided to donate to the cafe’s food larder appeal. Semper Fidelis Lodge No 4428, donated an extremely generous £2,000. Similarly, the South Fylde Group donated £500, which was raised at their Christmas event, GINgle All The Way, which was a festive gin tasting evening. On that same evening, Tithebarn Lodge No 8446, donated food items and a cheque made out to Wesley’s Cafe. St Annes Chapter No 2457 also made a cheque out to Wesley’s Cafe.
Paul Caddy, head of the Wesley’s Cafe team, was visibly moved by the outstanding support they have received from the Freemasons of the South Fylde Group and eagerly explained how the money is spent. Paul Caddy said: “It costs over £22,000 each year to run the Cafe and Community Larder. Additionally, of those costs, approximately £800 per month of food is purchased through the FareShare Community Trust and local suppliers. The cafe is fortunate to receive some donations from local supermarkets such as Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury’s. For example, the cafe has collected almost four tonnes of food from its local Sainsbury’s supermarket and almost one tonne from Marks & Spencer. We are grateful to them all, for their ongoing and loyal support.”
South Fylde Group Charity Steward David Jenkinson said: “When looking at those statistics, it’s fair to say that the money raised and donated through the South Fylde Group’s lodges and chapters will most definitely go a long way in ensuring the team at Wesley’s Cafe can continue their amazing work in supporting our local community. It is significant to note that the cafe transforms food collections plus purchased food into an estimated added value of £8,000 delivered to Wesley’s clients.”
