Inverness church set to expand offerings to community after announcement of cafe closure
A church in Inverness is expanding its reach into the local community throughout the week.
King’s Inverness in Smithton Industrial Estate announced that it is set to close its cafe due to rising costs.
However, the team plans to host more for the local community now that they no longer have to work around the set hours of the cafe.
The Inverness Courier was invited to attend the weekly lunch club, which takes place every Monday at 1pm to find out exactly what is on offer.
The popular lunch time activity sees people of all ages gather together for a warm meal, followed by a scrumptious pudding.
Dionne Henderson, King’s youth and community development officer, said: “We’ve started lunch club, which has been amazing as it’s tackling social isolation and ensuring that people have a hot meal.
“We have at least 15 people each week and we are hoping that will grow more as we can now move into a bigger room within the premises.”
Occasionally the group has a guest speaker come along, such as the police and fire services.
Alongside this, a new mum’s group - ‘Meet a Mum’ - takes place on Tuesday mornings at 10.30am, so those with young children can get a coffee and a cake.
“It’s very much focused on the mum rather than the baby for mums who are going through a massive change,” explained Dionne.
“It’s great to be able to offer that and they can just drop in. It’s nice and relaxed and the mums know they can turn up for 15 minutes or two hours and meet others in the same boat.”
On Wednesday, Tiny Tots takes place, which includes crafts, play equipment which allows parents to relax while kids play.
Messy Monday is on the first Monday of the month, which involves lots of sensory play and allows children to explore new textures - without a mess being made at home.
In the future, a dad’s Saturday morning will take place where there will be a bouncy castle and they can get a bacon roll.
A kids group takes place for primary school aged children from 6pm to 7pm each Tuesday evening.
On Fridays, many local youth from S1 to S6 come along for The Hangout, where they can get a hot meal and somewhere to spend time in.
Dionne said: “We had 32 along this past Friday and they are all from the local community.
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“It’s grown massively and they tell me what they want for their meal! We all sit and eat together and then we can play games or spend time with one another.
“I didn’t know that I could cook for that many people!”
Chris Dowling, King’s Church pastor said: “I think people have a worry that when the cafe closes, that’s it.
“But it’s the opposite, as there is so much more we can do now.
“We will be offering more barista training for young people and it opens up more opportunities for us when we aren’t working around the cafe.
“It’s hard for any business right now, especially in the hospitality trade, so unfortunately, it was a decision we had to make.
“But we truly believe that there is so much more that is going to come from it and that as a church we can serve our community in new and innovative ways.”
King’s Church weekly service takes place each Sunday at 11am.
