Search form

Shop
Total: £0.00
Item Cost
Your shopping cart is empty.

Search form

Home > News > New Cafe and Community Hub

New Cafe and Community Hub

We are pleased to announce that we are launching a new community hub at Makers Village in Ludgate, near Alloa town centre. This service, to be known as ‘Makers’, will act as a base for delivering day and outreach opportunities for the individuals that we support. It will house a community cafe with a garden, shop and gallery, as well as space to accommodate events and workshops for community groups.

The previous ‘Makers Gallery and Bistro’ was run by the organisation ‘Reachout with Arts in Mind’ and became available after the group’s five year funding for the project came to an end.

Our own Makers, due to open this winter, aims to provide the individuals we support within our services opportunities for personal growth through the offer of placements, which will enable them to create relationships and connections within the local community.

Felicity Lister, Regional Manager said: “We are delighted to announce our latest venture in Alloa which will not only deliver some great benefits to the individuals we support but will also offer the local community a new cafe and gallery to visit.

“For the individuals we support, Makers will provide a wonderful opportunity to build their skills portfolios in a number of areas such as catering, hospitality and retail which for some could lead to securing future employment. It will also act as a local hub for information sharing and help to bring different parts of the community together.”

Within the service, a small outdoor space on the east of the building will be used as a garden to grow ingredients for the cafe. This will also showcase the work of our local vocational day service, Gartinny Nurseries in Coalsnaughton, which offers horticultural therapy to adults with autism. At Gartinny, individuals are supported to learn about growing different plants and develop social skills through customer service, which we hope can be replicated within the garden environment at Makers. Additionally, the onsite shop and gallery space will be used to showcase and sell the hand crafted products and art work of the individuals supported within our Art Opportunities service in Alloa.

Anthea Coulter, Business Manager at Clackmannanshire Third Sector Enterprise is delighted to back the new venture, “Makers has a special place in the hearts of people in Alloa and Clackmannanshire. We are absolutely delighted to have been able to support Scottish Autism in helping them plan for this new venture and hope that the local community will give it the very best of support as it sets out on a new journey and helps a wide number of people with learning disabilities and autism.”