Mears Belhaven Day Care Centre, which caters for the elderly and less able in the Troon and Prestwick area, has opened a brand new café called The Haven.
Located within the new day care facility at 9 Academy Street, Troon, (which relocated from Prestwick a few months back) the café will be open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9am till 5pm, serving breakfast, lunch and hot snacks and delicious home baking.
The cafe will be open to the public as well as those who attend the day care facility on a regular basis. It is a community café and will be running activity sessions, from craft afternoons to home-baking lessons for local youngsters.
As well as providing care at home across Scotland and at this day care facility in Troon, Mears also has a housing division working across the UK including Scotland, with tradesmen who are contracted for care and repair of social housing in Scotland.
Lynn Skedd, Manager of Mears Belhaven Day Care says:
“The Coatbridge housing team joined us in this social value project to kit out the old homecare office turning it into our new café. Some of the joiners, electricians, painters and plumbers will be at our opening event.
“Mears’ charitable arm, the Mears Foundation provided a grant of £1,000 to the project towards the purchase of furniture, and the team will be trained as baristas. Meaning there will be a great cup of coffee to be had here!”
Mears Belhaven Day Care Centre has always organised great events, and Lynn plans to involve local schools and local sheltered housing complexes to bring together the different generations for a quiz battle of the brain event and more.
Lynn continues:
“We also have a larger table in the centre of the cafe which we plan to use as a Natter Chatter table to encourage people who come into the cafe who are on their own, to sit together and encourage chat – if they wish to. We know this is a great way to break down the barriers of loneliness which we all know is very challenging for the elderly. We also have plans to link in with local community groups for example Dementia friendly Troon and Villages, local engagement officers and social work teams to work together to get the most out of a facility that can really make a difference.”
The team is designing a memory thread which will be travelling around the entire cafe walls.
Lynn continues:
“The large hearts formed by the thread line will be filled with customers memories and selfies. We have small memory boxes on each table with cards to write down a special memory.
“Whether that’s an experience in the café, a wee memory of the town, or something special in their lives looking back. Because every picture tells a story.... which I think is very fitting.”