Community Brain has recently partnered with Kingston Council to further develop Tolworth Station’s community kitchen.
‘Baking Ideas’ is a newly refurbished, sustainable community space at Tolworth Station, providing a professionally equipped community kitchen and meeting space for up to 20 people.
The community kitchen aims to play a key role in contributing to a strong, engaged, creative and sustainable local community, and is open to anyone who wants to use it, including educators, welfare organisations, individuals interested in developing or starting their own food business, or existing businesses that need to develop or expand.
‘Baking Ideas’ is designed to be a flexible space that meets the needs of the local community, and the Community Brain is currently utilising the space to support refugees, asylum seekers, and people who have lost their homes and are in temporary accommodation, without access to cooking facilities or equipment.
Kingston Council provides financial support for the hiring of the space and the purchasing of ingredients, allowing the space to be free of charge for those who need it most.
Himali Patil of the Community Brain said: “This offer is proving to be a very useful service for local people and their families. They can book 3-hour slots during the day and bring their family along to cook. Each slot can accommodate two families and we provide free Wi-Fi, cooking equipment, utensils, and pantry staples. Those using the space are welcome to eat their food at the table once they’ve finished cooking, or they can take the food home with them.
“Our community kitchen offer has very quickly gotten popular amongst people in temporary housing, and the space is almost always fully booked from Wednesday to Saturday. We’re so glad people are finding this space and the service useful and it’s wonderful to see how many different cuisines and cultures the users and ourselves have been exposed to through this offer.”
For more information or for booking enquiries, get in touch with charlotte@thecommunitybrain.org.
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