By Jill Stocks
A popular community cafe based in Horsforth is continuing to serve the community and reduce food waste going into its ninth year.
Horsforth Community Cafe started in 2016 and Penny Pinn was a volunteer until the previous co-ordinator left the area and she was asked to take over.
“I just pull all the strings together and make everything work,” Penny said.
The cafe was set up to stop food going to waste. Penny added: “It’s pay as you feel so it’s affordable. Anyone can come and eat here. We don’t turn anyone away.
“It’s very social so where in a commercial cafe people wouldn’t talk to anyone else on the table here they do chat, so for all the regular customers that come it’s a bit of a social lifeline.”

Penny explained how the cafe works: “The church doesn’t charge us rent but we cover our costs in terms of energy and cleaning.
“We make a contribution for some of the donated food from Rethink food but the rest of the donations that we don’t use we can give to local good causes so everybody wins.
“Pre-lockdown we used to get a lot of donation referrals, but lockdown changed a lot of things for a lot of people so we’re not getting quite as much surplus. But there’s other funding sources that come in, such as the Welcome Spaces fund from Leeds City Council.
“We have volunteers who go to rethink and they get five crates of fruit and veg for us every week.”
Through the Tesco Fair Share Go app volunteers collect surplus food from local Tescos on a Sunday night and Monday morning.
“If people are doing events or just clearing out cupboards they know to drop it with us,” Penny added. “And there’s a chap who lives locally who works as a rep for small shops in Yorkshire and the North East and every day there’s boxes of biscuits and cakes that are beyond best before so the shops can’t sell them but we can use them as a cafe providing food to the public.
“We use some of the cakes here but also give them to those who need them – Hawksworth Wood Project, homeless charities, Rainbow Junktion for example.”

The cafe is entirely volunteer run and there are around 20 volunteers a week in various roles.
Penny added: “We have a big pool of volunteers so they don’t all have to come every week.
“Some will prep, some will cook, some will do the washing up. We have schools coming to help – four year olds from West End School, year fives from West End School came in the lead up to Christmas, and Featherbank School come when they finish their SATS in June and July. We also have sixth formers from Horsforth School who come if they have a free period on a Monday morning and help.
“The volunteers love it. They enjoy making lovely meals and serving them and again its social contact as well for them.”

In 2022 the cafe was awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award any voluntary service can get and the last one before the Queen died.
The cafe is open on Mondays between 10am and 2pm, with lunch at 12pm, at the parish centre at St Margaret’s Church. More details can be found on Facebook.

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