St Luke's Church Eccleshill, Bradford, UK

St Luke's Eccleshill Day Centre

Dinner Time (1)

Dinner Time (2)

St Luke's Day Centre aims to help elderly clients who would otherwise find it difficult to get out and meet people socially, and to help give their carers some respite. We do this by providing a facility on Tuesdays (with transport provided) where clients can come for social programme and a cooked meal.

The Day Centre meets on 48 Tuesdays of the year in the narthex, the glassed-in area at the back of St Luke's Church building. Transport on a hired minibus (at a cost of 50p return) is provided to and from the Day Centre: clients are given a hot drink when they arrive, a cooked lunch, a programme of activities or entertainment, and some time for socialization and chatting with others. The lunch costs Ł3.50 per head and is provided by a local catering firm. We have places for up to 25 clients, and priority is given to those who are infirm and otherwise would find it difficult to get out of their houses and meet people, and to those whose carers need respite.

The Day Centre is funded by Bradford Social Services, who determine the terms of our contract and a specification for the service we provide. This funding covers the employment of a Coordinator, who is responsible for the running of the Day Centre in such a way as to satisfy this specification.

The programme also includes occasional trips and outings, and transport is provided for these.

The Day Centre is open to clients of retirement age and above, and to all irrespective of race, religion or gender. Although there is some Christian content to some of the programme and entertainment, there is no pressure on anyone to hold any particular religious views or take part in any activities.

The Day Centre used to run on Mondays, but we found that bank holidays interrupted the provision of our service too often - so we changed to Tuesdays on 2nd September 2003.

We usually have some vacancies - please contact us if you would like to enquire about coming (for yourself or for someone else).

What do we do? The timetable of what happens each week is roughly:

10.00am Doors open. Clients are collected by minibus from 9.30am
10.30am Provide cup of tea for clients as and when they arrive.
11.00am Informal Programme of activities.
12.30pm Cooked Lunch.
1.30pm Programme of activities.
3.00pm Tea & Biscuits, celebration of any birthdays etc.
3.30pm Clients begin to depart. Clearing up and tidying.
4.00pm Doors closed.

What does our church think about the Day Centre? In the summer of 2003 we consulted our church congregation about the future of the Day Centre, as we felt we needed a strong mandate for continuing the work when the previous coordinator gave notice of leaving. At congregational meetings strong support was expressed, and a new team of volunteers was formed, which was more than enough for us to continue. The offers of help came from both our congregations - neither could have staffed the Day Centre by itself, but together we are able to continue the service.

Who runs our service? We have a Day Centre Coordinator: June Sherwin who is employed for 12 hours a week. We also have three volunteers each week: one to escort the minibus, one who comes in mid-morning to make tea and serve lunch, and one who comes in to serve lunch.