Speedwell Court seeks community support to secure crucial funding for dementia lunch club

"We enjoy it so much that it has become a must-attend event for both of us. It gives us the opportunity to relax."

A lunch club run by Speedwell Court care home for older people in Southampton’s West End is reaching out to the public to help it to receive much-needed funding from the Co-op Local Community Fund.

Speedwell Court has successfully applied to the Co-op’s Local Community Fund to have their Community Lunch Club shortlisted as a local good cause eligible for funding. The Local Community Fund has shared over £58 million with 20,500 unique community projects nationwide since its inception in 2020, enabling Co-op customers to help create meaningful change in their neighbourhood.

Speedwell Court’s Community Lunch Club is run every month, welcoming people living with dementia and their carers (usually a spouse) to the home for a three-course meal. The Club, which is free to attend, also gives attendees the opportunity to meet others in the same situation. Lunch is usually followed by a dementia-friendly activity, such as a music group, which is also attended by some of the home’s residents, many of whom are similarly affected by dementia.

The funds raised by the Co-op Local Community Fund will be imperative to ensuring the survival of the Community Lunch Club and keeping it free to attend. The Club provides a vital service for the local community and is a lifeline for many people who are affected by or caring for someone with dementia.

Ian, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2023, and his wife and carer, Carolyn, regularly attend the Community Lunch Club, which was recommended to them by Andover Mind, the North and Mid-Hampshire branch of the national mental health charity.

Carolyn says, “We enjoy it so much that it has become a must-attend event for both of us. It gives us the opportunity to relax.

“Both Ian and I have made some new friends, and it is good to know that everyone here, visitors and the staff, know what we are going through and are willing to listen and offer support if they can.”

To help the Community Lunch Club receive as much support as possible, Co-op Members will need to choose it as their preferred Local Cause, which they can do by visiting the Co-op website or app, searching for Abbeyfield Living Society (or cause number 89967), and selecting it.

After choosing the Community Lunch Club as their preferred Local Cause, Members will automatically receive one entry to a prize draw for every £5 they spend in-store, online or in the app. 10 winners are drawn every month, who will each receive £500 cash, and their chosen Local Cause will receive £5,000. There are no limits to the number of entries to the prize draw each Co-op Member and their Local Cause can receive, or the number of times a Member or Cause can win.

The Community Lunch Club will also receive a share of a further £6,000 at the end of the funding year (October 2025), and the more people who choose it as their preferred Local Cause, the more it will receive.

Speedwell Court’s Customer Relations Manager, Justine Owen, says, “We know how physically and emotionally difficult caring for a loved one with dementia can be. Projects like the Community Lunch Club not only provide an outlet, something different to enjoy, company and a change of scene, but also help our visitors to know that they are not alone and ultimately that there are people who care.

“The meals for the Community Lunch Club come at a considerable cost to us. As a free service run by a charity, we would struggle to sustain the project without support from our community through initiatives such as the Co-op Local Community Fund. It would be a tremendous loss to the many current and potential future attendees if the Club was to close.”

Co-op membership costs £1, and you can sign up in-store, online at www.coop.co.uk/membership, or in the Co-op app. To support the Community Lunch Club and help it to secure the funding it needs, Members will need to log in and select it as their chosen Local Cause.

“In doing so you will help us to raise the vital funds we need to keep the Club free to attend, help it to grow, and continue to support people living with dementia and their carers for many years to come.”