Offenders serve up a treat for elderly at Thornhill Lees

Apr 17 2009 By Neil Atkinson

OFFENDERS carrying out community payback sentences from the courts have given a new lease of life to a community centre in Kirklees.

They have been helping out at the Thornhill Lees community centre with a range of tasks – but have now become a mainstay at mealtimes.

Centre officials had contacted West Yorkshire Probation with a request for offenders to carry out some decorating work, but it has turned into far more than that.

The centre is trying to encourage local community spirit.

It had popular arts, crafts and youth groups, but the demand for the elderly luncheon clubs and other activities had fallen away.

The centre was already running a “soup and sandwich day” on Mondays and Wednesdays in a bid to encourage the community to socialise.

But research showed that some members of the local elderly community were not eating healthily. The community centre wanted to ensure this changed and offered a good quality meal for a subsidised reasonable price.

But it placed a strain on the existing volunteers.