RENAISSANCE Retirement, part of Lifestory, has made a £1000 donation to a community cafe and facility in Wimborne.

The Café @Allendale in Wimborne, taken over in January by Wimborne Folk Festival organisers, provides as many as 500 much needed free meals every week.

It was set to become a community facility to compliment the Festival, but following lockdown and the temporary closure of the community fridge at the Allendale Centre, the directors of the café started a free food facility to assist people during these challenging times.

The £1000 donation will ensure that the Café can continue to support vulnerable members of the community who are unable to get out to provide for themselves and anyone suffering undue financial difficulties in Wimborne in the current climate.

On behalf of the Directors of the Café, Paul Gunovsky said: "We are very grateful to Renaissance Retirement for their generous donation. We cannot thank all our sponsors, suppliers and volunteers enough, as without them none of this would be possible. It has been a fantastic community effort to get the facility up and running.

"Our volunteers are able to deliver almost 500 prepared meals along with other food provisions each week, whilst people can also come into the café between 11am and 2pm daily, to select produce. We are also working with the Wimborne Food Bank and providing food to the town council's volunteers, who deliver to the wider community."

Managing Director at Lifestory South & South West, Marc Evans added: "We are delighted to be supporting the amazing work of the Café @Allendale and through them to help those in the community in Wimborne who need assistance during such difficult times. We feel very privileged to be able to give back to the local area during what for so many is an especially challenging period."

Regular updates about the Café @ Allendale’s services and menu can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/WimborneFolk/