Our community centre is open to all ages and those from any background, from Nigerian pensioners attending reminiscence to talk about how the city has changed in their time here to Ukrainian dads bringing their little ones to stay-and-play; and of course our many volunteers are a diverse group, including refugees, those out of paid work, people in recovery, people with additional learning needs or who are neurodivergent. Often the groups, activities and events we offer are driven by these volunteers and provide an inclusive and accepting space for others.

There is no Council community centre provision in Stobswell, however we have been operating for nearly 30 years, and on this site since 2017 and so bring a wealth of knowledge and established relationships to our work, whilst encouraging development by employing young local people, including our Time to Shine leader in our engagement post and a recent graduate who is vice-chair on our board.

On a daily basis we have our free cosy café with tea and toast and our lunch club with a three course freshly made lunch for less than £5; on a Friday this ties into our walking group of 40+ people who take a mid-morning stroll around the local park and finish here with a hearty, healthy lunch and a game of boccia. Our toddler club runs 4 days and is an opportunity for parents to stay-and-play with the wee ones whist socialising with other parents and accessing free breakfast and clothes. The larder is open 3 days per week and sees 65 people through the doors approximately, most of whom are providing for other people also, so we estimate the larder supports some 200+ people per week.

We have various other groups and activities running throughout the week including bingo, reminiscence, crafting, knitting, chair yoga, boccia, tai chi, yoga, tea dance, film club, karaoke club, street drumming, art class, LGBT+ Café and Andy’s Man Club. We have a freecycle area for books, clothes, household items and toys to reduce waste and give access to items at no-cost to those who need them. We also host frequent fundraising events, training opportunities and learning sessions which are geared towards bringing people together and sharing food, learning and fun.

We also have many partnerships with other local agencies and services which tie into the centre including a weekly drop in with community nurses who provide health and wellbeing checks, referral services and cessation services to centre users as well as the local police force who take part in coffee with a cop, a chance to highlight community concerns and access police support in a relaxed setting.

We have a lift in the centre which precedes our ownership, going back to the centre being a council owned respite centre. This lift is used to allow access between the ground floor which has our larder, café, lunch club and games hall with the 1st floor which houses reception, the toddler area, group room (for crafts, knitting etc), the meeting room (for 1:1’s including nurse assessments). This lift has been frequently out of order for the past 4 years and infrequently so before this. It is more than 20 years old and effectively obsolete unfortunately. We have a local lift repairer and electrician who have managed in the past to repair the faults, but this is getting increasingly more problematic as parts become more difficult to source; often resulting in months of down time in-between repairs. Each repair tends to cost around £1500 from the lift repair company and another £250+ from the electrician which adds up. We are no longer getting a significant amount of working time out of each of these repairs and cannot justify this cost as frequently as they have been. Looking at alternative options we have tendered three quotes for replacement and investigated substitution with a ramp; the first option being outwith our means at present and the second being untenable due to the length of ramp required for an acceptable slope. The cost of replacing the lift is between £20,000 and £25,000 which covers the whole replacement of the lift mechanism and unit, labour and repair work which will result from the work. And so we are asking for whatever you would be able to contribute towards this - every penny gets us a step closer to replacing this system and giving our attendees full access again.