Wesley’s Community Café and Larder received a most welcome boost this week when Lytham Green Drive’s 2023-24 season captains presented the community food bank project with a cheque for £4,000 following a successful year of fund raising (see featured photographs).
The café and larder, located next to Church Road Methodist Church in St. Anne’s, was founded by resident Paul Caddy to support an increasing number of people struggling to feed themselves or their families in the local community.
Paul describes the charity as originally ‘starting up with a pan of soup’, but it now feeds a thousand people a month with breakfast, lunch or simply a welcome cup of coffee.
Paul says, ‘Wesley’s teaches people to cook so that they can in turn cook in our kitchen – serving up delicious food for those in need, who can dine within the sanctuary of our café. We also have “the larder” (a food bank) that provides for over 250 families a month with food and basic necessities. When Lytham Green Drive’s captains approach us to help, we were obviously very happy, but we had no idea they could raise £4,000 – it has exceeded all our expectations!’
Before each golf season, Lytham Green Drive captains choose a charity for their club. Last year Green Drive’s Men’s captain, Steve Sheard, and Ladies’ captain, Janet Ellis, agreed to support Wesley’s. Steve says, ‘We had a chat and thought that with the current economic climate, it made sense to support people less fortunate than ourselves locally.’
Janet supported the choice, saying, ‘We came to visit Wesley’s and were blown away by the generosity of volunteers who freely give up so much of their time. Wesley’s has over 50 volunteers, which is a remarkable effort.’
Steve goes onto say, ‘Janet and I have been really pleased by the support of our members at Green Drive. They have signed up for captains’ golf days, coffee mornings, bought lots of raffle tickets and even bid for prime car parking spots at the club.’
The final word should go to Paul who says, ‘Give us a pound and Wesley’s can feed someone. £4,000 goes a long, long way and we are absolutely delighted. We want to thank the fantastic fund-raising efforts of Steve, Janet and members of Lytham Green Drive Golf Club.’
And you can also help as Wesley’s is always looking for more volunteers and any donations are most welcome. Contact Welsey’s via their Facebook page by searching for – Wesleys-Community-Cafe-Larder.
Lytham St. Anne’s News adds its thanks to Lytham Green Drive, who are now taking applications for new members for the 2024-25 golf season.
