A charity that repurposes surplus food on a pay as you can basis in Kendal is expanding to open three days a week from next month.
The service, run by Waste into Wellbeing is at The Eddington.
It will open a Café Lite session on a Tuesday, so it can repurpose even more surplus food while continuing with its full Community Food Larder on Thursdays and Saturdays, between noon and 1.30pm and the Kendal People’s Café, a low carbon community kitchen which also uses surplus food, at the same time on Saturdays.
The Eddington aims to inspire action on climate, sustainability and wellbeing, fulfilling one of the recommendations of the Kendal Climate Change Citizens’ Jury to create a “one stop shop for climate action and information”.
It has been supported by funding from Kendal Town Council.
The venue is the former United Reformed Church off Highgate and its 1960s sports hall and is now managed by a new community interest company.
It was bought in 2022 by Bruce Withington via his business FVC Ltd, with the intention of preserving the Grade II-listed church and the sports hall as a community asset for the people of Kendal.
The hall has been renovated with floor, wall and ceiling insulation and an air source heat pump so is now completely energy efficient and fossil fuel free.
Jo Haughton, one of the voluntary directors of the Eddington CIC, said: “When we were hatching plans for this one stop shop for climate action and sustainability, we felt that it was very important to have food at the heart of it, because that’s the one thing that brings people together.”
Waste into Wellbeing is run by the charity South Lakes Action on Climate Change, which is the partner in the Eddington.
Alison Quigley, community project manager at Waste into Wellbeing, said the café and larder offer a safe, inclusive space for people.
She added: “Food poverty is quite high in Cumbria and Kendal. Our pay-as-you-can larder is open to everyone, supporting us to reduce food waste while ensuring access to a healthy diet is inclusive to all.
The Eddington CIC also has plans to use the church as an events space.
Jo added: “the church is a really versatile space where currently we can seat up to 250 people. The aspiration is to have a wide range of activities and events going on in the venue, such as talks and creative performances.”
Two partners received more than £5,000 from Cumbria Action for Sustainability, Westmorland and Furness Council and the Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
It paid for cooking equipment, and for the placement of a university student researching a cycling community project for the Eddington.
Jo said it could bring in another income stream to the centre. Jo added: “That’s going to be very important to us in terms of the ongoing viability of the venue, to keep everything developing in the way that the community wants to see.”
