From taking their first tentative steps towards setting up a lunch club with the support of St Cuthbert’s Care to having the confidence to organise a fabulous day out for around 50 people themselves, has taken just six months for the dedicated volunteers at Cuddy’s Lunch Club in Chester-le-Street.
Once all the arrangements were in place for the trip guests, volunteers and many of their friends excitedly boarded the hired coach and set off for Heighley Gate Garden Centre in Northumberland.
With the sun shining, the array of colourful plants proved irresistible to many who took the opportunity to buy flowers and shrubs for their garden. For others, the variety of goods inside gave them the chance to shop for early Christmas gifts.
After a busy morning shopping, everyone enjoyed lunch in the garden centre restaurant where they could catch up with each other and show off what they’d bought. After another look around, it was back to the bus for the journey home.
Volunteer Ann Aubrey said, “We all had a wonderful day. Just about everyone was able to make the trip and our bus driver was fantastic, so patient with the ladies who needed extra help to get on the bus and carefully storing mobility scooters. Everyone is already asking where we’re going next and our first trip has been so successful I think we might be brave enough to go a bit further afield next time.”
Cuddy’s Lunch Club is one of fifteen Parish and Community Enablement (PACE) projects run by volunteers and set up by local parishes around the region with the support of St Cuthbert’s Care.