Palace Club Hackney: a warm space for Elders

Aim

The Palace Club is our social project for Hackney's over65s. We are raising funds so we can double our FREE Warm Spaces sessions in March 23

Who are we?

Chats Palace Arts Centre is located just off Homerton High Street. Our ground floor comprises a café and hall, both of which are fully accessible, with ground floor accessible toilets. We have step-free access from kerb to throughout the ground floor, including fire exit routes.  As an arts centre delivering an essential civic programme we offer safe, inspiring surroundings with comfy sofas and armchairs, crafting areas and exhibitions of photography by local photographers.

Community impact

Our commitment to working with Hackney’s Elders (age 65+yrs) began in 2018. The Palace Club (https://chatspalace.com/the-palace-club/) is our weekly open-to-all programme offering a range of stimulating, enjoyable arts and wellbeing activities at our fully accessible building off Homerton High Street. Including a nutritious hot lunch, this programme is provided free of charge and is now an essential part of Homerton life for local older people. The Palace Club currently has 100+ members with around 25 – 30 local Elders attending each week. 

Our goal is to support all our local Elders, many of whom have long term health and mental health issues, helping them feel more visible and cared for through a project that is delivered by local people with and for members of their community. With the challenges of the rise in the cost of living we are aware that our Elders now face a frightening 2023.

The Palace Club is an important part of many of the participant’s social calendar, with many elders commenting that it is one of the only opportunities they have to socialise within the week. Most of our elders live within walking distance of the venue and have commented on how valuable it is to be able access an experience like the Palace Club on their doorstep. Many among them have mobility issues and travelling the distance to another similar activity in the area is simply not possible, making the Palace Club a truly invaluable resource.

Quotes from participants:

• I really love it.
• Thank you for a great morning. Loved the group, the activities, and the food. 
• Thank you for all your hard work and the lunches you provided for us each week without fail.
• I really don't want to miss a session as I found it most enjoyable last week.
• I very much enjoyed learning new ways of singing, new exercises and the interaction with everyone in the group.
• Thank you for an eye-opening course. I met ingredients I'd never heard of and improved my very basic cooking skills. All great and useful fun.
• Thank you for making us feel so special
• We enjoyed the session, and it helped me a lot, helping me cook for myself which is one of my mental health targets.

Over the past 12 months we have connected with:

• 20 locally based artists, facilitators, writers, musicians, singers and makers (8 men and 12 women) who have led workshops in Pilates, singing, origami, book clubs and cookery. The majority of these artists live within walking distance of Chats Palace. By supporting them in their livelihood we are investing further in Hackney’s rich creative economy.
• Over the past year we have developed relationships with 6 local caterers - small local businesses who help us provide healthy, nutritious hot meals for each of our in-person club sessions
• Our caterers include: Pasta e Basta, based in Homerton, Karma Cans, based in Bethnal Green, Cod & Co, based on Chatsworth Road, Sunlight Caribbean, based in Homerton, Pierrette, based in Hackney Central and Crystal Café, based on Chatsworth Road.
• It is clear from participant feedback that the quality of food was appreciated and that they were having types of food that they normally did not have. It is also clear how important this lunch was to the participant’s experience – it not only guaranteed that the participants were having one hot, nutritional meal a week, but it was also an opportunity to share a meal with others. In the current economic climate, this offer is all the more essential and appreciated.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We are seeking to raise additional funds through this crowdfunder to enable us to offer two free weekly warm spaces sessions for the Palace Club in March 2023. With hot drinks and hot food provided in the warm, familiar environment of our arts centre we will be able to support our Elders’ community to build individual and collective confidence that they can get through the current cost-of-living crisis.  Our doors will be open every Tuesday and Friday welcoming them into our well-heated hall to play board games – or chess matches for the more skilled – or just sit and talk one with another. On Tuesdays we will also offer a range of arts and well-being activities, from Chair Pilates to Drama workshops. Our experience has shown us that this simple set-up is highly effective in tackling loneliness and social isolation and goes a long way to improving mental and physical wellbeing by encouraging participation in a shared activity. A DBS certificated Hub Leader is present throughout each session, making sure everyone is save, feels welcome and has access to information on other local initiatives in our network which can offer additional support, such as food boxes. 

Tues 10am – 2pm (4hrs) incl hot lunch FREE

 Friday 12noon – 5pm (5hrs) incl hot drinks, soup FREE

How we’ll spend the money raised

We are seeking to raise £1000 to continue to provide our services free of charge to all of Hackney's Elders.

£1000 will cover the cost of:

8 (2 per week) health & welling/arts activity sessions £360

120 free hot meals (30 meals per week @ £5 per person) £600

Unlimited free hot drinks and biscuits £40 (£10 per week)

Every additional £250 raised over target will enable us to extend delivery of this programme for a further 1 week.

This project successfully funded on 28th March 2023