A Wonderful Year for the Brightwell Café

It has been the first full calendar year of our new Brightwell Café being up and running, and it’s been a busy one

! As well as providing members and visitors with a variety of tasty lunches, snacks, drinks, and treats over the year, the Café has also hosted several larger group bookings and catered for several events, including our Members’ Christmas Buffet held on 10 December

This year, we also introduced some delicious homemade bakes from local baker Eliza, who runs Eliza’s Cakes and Bakes…including several seasonal treats, including some amazing Mint Chocolate Rocky Road slices as shown below – a perfect treat for the festive season!

We’re delighted to support a talented local baker, who also has family that attends the Centre, and we look forward to introducing further bakes from Eliza in 2026.

Next year, we will also be looking at how we can extend our menus to offer further healthy options – it can be a challenge with limited facilities, but along with her popular homemade fresh soups, Paula is keen to see how else we can extend what the café can offer.

Thank you to everyone who has joined us for food and drink at The Brightwell Café this year – we couldn’t operate without you, and every penny from items sold at the Café goes back to the charity and helps keep the service open. It is also only fitting that we give special thanks to the dedicated team of volunteers who help Paula in keeping the Café running – we have had a few new volunteers join the café team this year, and the whole team do a wonderful job in helping keep our lovely café going.

As well as providing refreshments, we know that the Café provides a wonderful social space for our members and visitors – there’s always a warm welcome for those visiting the Centre, and we look forward to welcoming more of you, your friends and family to the Brightwell Café in 2026!