A NEW café is to open on Monday 8 January to help support Jersey Cheshire Home.
The café, based in Edinburgh House in Green Street, will be open on weekdays from 8am to 2pm and on Saturdays from 8am to 5pm, serving hot drinks, cakes, snacks and hot lunches.
It will also be raising funds for – and the profile of – the only residential care facility in the Island providing 24-hour care for disabled people who are no longer able to live independently.
Donna Abel, chief executive of Jersey Cheshire Home, said some of those staffing the café would be volunteers from among the residents, working alongside able-bodied people, and said: “One of the great benefits is that it will provide a new purpose for some of our residents.
“And it will raise the profile of what we do, with a massive sign in front!”
The premises will also be available for hire outside the café opening hours and Ms Abel said she hoped other charities and care providers might be able to use them.
She said: “We’ve got a few private bookings already.
“It’s a really fantastic space, and its whole purpose is to bring different members of the community together.
“That’s why there are no single tables, only large ones.”
The charity worked with the building’s owners Andium Homes to prepare for it to open as a café. It also received crockery and utensils from Macmillan Jersey, whose own coffee shop in Burrard Street closed at the end of November.
Ms Abel added that the café planned to host regular afternoon teas for some of those who lost their homes in last December’s gas explosion at Haut du Mont.
