A POPULAR day-centre, which provided a café and place of rest
for shoppers as well as for homeless and vulnerable people, has
closed after 35 years.
Trustees of the All Saints' Centre, which is housed in a
redundant church in Norwich citycentre, blamed the closure on
rising costs.
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham James, who had offered
to lease the building through the diocese, said: "It's a matter of
enormous regret that such a wonderful ministry in the heart of the
city has had to come to an end." In a letter to its five staff, who
lost their jobs, and to the volunteers who worked there, he wrote:
"It has been a jewel in the life of Norwich, giving hospitality to
anyone who entered its doors. There has been a truly open welcome,
and that has only been possible because of the dedicated staff and
volunteers who made it what it has been for so many years."
In a statement, the trustees said that the centre had "evolved
through the vision, faith, energy, unconditional love, commitment,
and sheer determination of a whole host of people, and will leave a
huge gap". The trustees also said that they had also faced
difficulties securing funding, and had been unable to agree a more
affordable rent with the building's owners, the Norwich Historic
Churches' Trust.
In a letter to friends and supporters on the centre's website,
the trustees' spokeswoman, Katherine Gray, said that it was facing
rising rent, heat, and lighting costs, and needed to find £8000 to
repair the floor, and a further £14,000 for redecorating.
Although more underprivileged and marginalised people had been
coming through the centre's doors in the past year, the letter
said, fewer people were spending money in the café, its main source
of income. This was now losing £500 a week. The letter continued:
"The trustees have explored every avenue they know to save this
special place."
A customer, Sheila Amies, from Norwich, told the Eastern
Daily Press: "I feel absolutely gutted about it closing. It's
a place where you can meet people, and there's nowhere like
it."