A community centre and charity has finally reopened - more than a year after closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chell Area Family Action Group (CAFAG), at The Whitfield Valley Centre, in Fegg Hayes, provides services and activities that are organised and carried out by the local community, to improve the local community and support residents.
After 18 months of closure, the community centre finally reopened this week - and local people were queuing round the corner to get back through the doors.
The centre also now boasts a new charity shop.
It was a day of celebration for the whole team, including CAFAG's community enterprise officer Bernie Webbe, who says that closing the centre last March was 'very strange'.
"We had to close down all of our services overnight," said Bernie.
"For a charity like ours where we're so involved with the community in a face-to-face way, it was hard.
"We did adapt some of our services, such as our meals on wheels, but not having people in the centre was very strange."
As part of their post-lockdown reopening this week, the CAFAG team also opened their very first charity shop. The store is packed with bargains and is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
Bernie continued: "There has been a demand for it for a while so it's really exciting to finally have the funding to develop one and open it.
"It's obviously a source of income for us as a charity, but we hope it will also bring people into the centre and allow us to spread the word about what we can do and what we offer to people who might not have known about us.
"As a charity we have been going for more than 25 years now. We're here to support the local community, young and old. We provide services from birth all the way up to people in their 90s and more, through a whole host of services.
"We're here for anyone who needs us - and even people who don't. We have our community cafe for people to come in and have a chat.
"We have volunteer projects and we're always looking for more people to get involved and help us to deliver our services."
The reopening of CAFAG has come at the perfect time, with the start of the school holidays and the charity's youth programme.
Bernie added: "It's the perfect time for us to be back. We're just about to launch our youth programme, so that will be really nice.
"The centre is a lifeline for many people because it means they can just come in and socialise and have a chat with other people.
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