A Twyford-based KBB retailer has united their local community in volunteering to install a brand new kitchen for their local Age Concern centre.
Lisa Fouweather, owner at Kitchen & Bathroom Place, says she was first inspired to help the residents of Age Concern Day Centre in Twyford after hearing about the facility’s recent fundraising efforts to get a new kitchen.
The facility is a vital social community hub for elderly local residents, which provides valuable companionship and support services to its members. However, the current kitchen at the centre is outdated, and desperately in need of renovation.
The centre itself has been fundraising for several months, with one volunteer, Holly McRitchie, running 10km every week for 10 weeks in the lead-up to Christmas, which raised more then £5000.
However, Fouweather decided to make the most of her professional talents as a KBB retailer, and met with the centre’s manager, and offered to help organise the kitchen refurbishment.
“Age Concern Centre is right in the middle of our village, and they do a really good job looking after the elderly residents,” explains Lisa Fouweather, owner of Kitchen & Bathroom Place. “They probably have about 50 members who come Monday to Friday and it provides them with vital company and genuine support.”
Fouweather then set about speaking with her suppliers, who she says were more than happy to help out for a good cause. She says: “Omega kitchens said they’d support the project with some massively discounted kitchen units, then I went to Cosentino, and they agreed to help by giving me a free quartz slab for the worktops. Coulon Stone have also agreed to fabricate that for us for free. Clearwater have also given me heavily discounted sinks and taps, because you need three in a commercial kitchen – you’ve got to have one for handwash, one for dishwashing and one for vegetable washing.”
With materials sorted, Kitchen & Bathroom Place appealed for help from the local tradespeople, who Fouweather says have been incredibly generous in giving up their time to help the Age Concern centre.
“There’s a really lovely community-feel about the whole thing,” Fouweather explains, “I’ve had a tremendous response, and pretty much all the labour will be free because people are volunteering.
“The bigger challenge is that they want to keep the day centre open whilst we’re working. Some of my fitters will work weekends, some will go in at 7am in the morning and leave at 10, and then they’ll go back in after three o’clock when the members leave. It also means they can help fit it around their normal workloads.”
Specifically, Fouweather said she was grateful to local tradespeople Danny O’Neill, Mark O’Neill, Martin Cox, Alan Tanner, Kevin Tanner, Stephen Green, Brian Shotton, Jamie Britton, Angela Holland, Nick Wheeler, Andy Knight, Gerry Jones, who have volunteered to help.
“We’re starting in a few weeks’ time, and then we’ve got a two-week full-on schedule planned, after which I hope to be able to give back the centre an operational kitchen. We won’t have finessed it by then – we won’t have done the tiling yet and the finishing touches – but the kitchen will be up and running for the staff to be able to prepare lunches again, and I think they’ll really see the benefits.”
