Rowleys Centre for the Community is located in the heart of Cranleigh and prior to lockdown in March 2020 welcomed around 30 clients aged 50+ a day Monday to Friday and delivered an average of 20 home cooked meals to housebound clients. The centre has a hairdresser and the Chiropodist visits once a week. Visitors can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with cake and biscuits from Robins cafe and join in the varied activities and enjoy lunch. All this is provided by the incredibly loyal staff Gary Lee and Tina Perry and the cooks Jenny and Will along with a team of volunteers both at the centre and delivering the meals.
Most of this changed last March when the centre was forced to close to visitors, but the staff continued to work every day. The meals were still prepared and more recently, due to staff shortage, Gary and Tina have done the cooking 2 days a week while continuing to maintain the high statutory standards. For a few months things began to return to as near normal as possible with social distancing which meant reducing the daily attendance numbers. On 16th December a Christmas lunch was delivered to the housebound and on 24th December a complementary tea, a small gift and a card were delivered in addition to their meal.
One vital service that Gary and Tina provide is a “listening ear”; there are quite frequent calls during the day from lonely, elderly people who just want to talk, they miss visiting the centre. Gary and Tina wish to thank all the volunteers that keep the service running and the local supermarket that donates fresh fruit, vegetables and produce.
Like many other organisations, Rowleys is always in need of financial support so donations are very welcome.
