On March 13th, TRJFP celebrated the first anniversary of the Cambrian Community Centre Café in Richmond, The café is managed by Sarah, a former ETNA volunteer, and run by a team of 8-10 dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers every Wednesday 11:30 – 13:30.

Visitor numbers have grown steadily over the year and now we are regularly feeding 45 people each week. The Café operates on a Pay As You Feel basis and uses surplus food donated by local supermarkets.  Any produce that isn’t used in the kitchen is available for visitors to take home.  We typically save 40-70kg of food from landfill each week.

From serving soup and cheese toasties on day 1, we now offer soup, two main courses, two desserts (including the ever-popular apple crumble and custard), smoothie and salad.  If you have ever seen the small Cambrian Centre kitchen you will understand how impressive this is! The highlight of 2023 was Christmas lunch where we served 85 guests and enjoyed listening to the Centre Choir who performed for us.

The Café has strong links with local allotments, including Manor Road Allotment who kindly donate produce from their community plot, including a 37kg pumpkin!   Our own volunteer Lorna has almost single-handedly supplied the fruit (apples and rhubarb) for our weekly crumble, from her allotment and Kate takes home all our veg peelings and turns them into compost.

TRJFP were approached by the Cambrian Centre Trustees to open a Community Café for local residents suffering from isolation and loneliness post the pandemic.  Feedback from guests demonstrates the positive impact we are having: ‘Very inclusive and kind atmosphere’… ‘Brings community together’…’Generous food – jolly nice soup!’