Church garden in Chichester to be resurfaced to stop supper club guests and volunteers 'sliding around'
Areas of a Chichester church garden are being resurfaced to help keep charity volunteers and supper club guests safe when it rains.
Arun Landscapes is helping the Four Streets Project by resurfacing areas of St Paul’s Church garden on Saturdays August 1 and 8.
The Four Streets Project runs a take-away supper club for the homeless and vulnerably housed from the church gardens at Chrurchside every evening.
Volunteers run the supper club from the church kitchen, keeping their stores in a shed nearby. The area becomes very muddy every time it rains and is now very uneven and unsightly.
Arun Landscapes is a local family-run, award-winning garden design company working across the south of England - winning three gold medals at Chelsea. Led by James Steel-Sargent, the company is carrying out this work without charge, the only costs being for materials. The church, which doesn’t charge the charity rent, will pay 50 per cent.
“We’ve had this problem for years, with volunteers and supper club guests sliding around when it rains – we’re lucky that no one has been injured yet,” said Lesley Humphrey, Four Streets trustee.
“We’re very grateful to Arun Landscapes for their support. As a charity, our only income is from donations. We’ve no paid employees so every penny is spent on helping people.”
Last year, Four Streets, founded in 2017 by Donna Ockenden, fed 7,066 people.
A supper club guest said: “Four Streets is my friend; you never judge us, never ask questions. You just give us hot food.”
Donations to the Four Streets Project can be made via the website: https://www.fourstreetschichester.org.uk/
Anyone interested in volunteering should email [email protected]