St Leonard’s Church, Streatham is delighted to announce that is has been awarded £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation to help fund a new kitchen for the church. The kitchen is part of a wider series of improvements planned by the church to update its failing facilities. New catering facilities mean that the church can continue to provide a warm and welcoming space where refreshments can be provided to a range of local interest groups, schools and parishioners and those who host community events.
The current kitchen is in a very small and cramped space and is unsuitable for those who may have physical disabilities. In the scheme, drawn up by architects appointed by the church, the current kitchen makes way for new toilets that are also desperately needed. Space in the narthex has been identified for a much more open and accessible kitchen, but for it to be in keeping with the Grade II listed building hospitality facilities must adhere to a certain guidelines.
Canon Anna Norman-Walker, Rector at St Leonard’s says: “We anticipate the footfall will increase by at least 10% once we have addressed the queue for the toilet and enabled hospitality to be provided smoothly and smartly. In particular the organisers of the Streatham Festival and Streatham’s annual Little Big Peace Festival would use the church far more, and provide a much-needed venue for the ‘Holiday at Home’ initiative for isolated older people that is run by Streatham Senior Connections,” she continued. “We are very grateful to Garfield Weston for their generous support of this important project”.
