Friday 29 April was an important date for Kilbryde Hospice as its Supported Employment Café was launched at the hospice at McGuinness way in East Kilbride.

The Café has been planned by Kilbryde Hospice for some time, given the large population of South Lanarkshire, which currently stands at over 311,000 people. Good relationships exist between the charity and South Lanarkshire Council resulting in the café becoming an education and employment training facility for young people with significant additional support needs being supported on the councils ‘Work it Out’ project.

This partnership brings along vast local experience as the ‘Work it Out’ project has been delivering education and training for many years along with local colleges and this particular project having the support of New College Lanarkshire.

We were delighted that Lady Susan Haughey, deputy to the Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire and Kilbryde Hospice Director was able to join us at the launch along with other Kilbryde Hospice Directors, Head Cook Marion Craig, ‘Work it Out’ students and Hospice Chief Executive Gordon McHugh who also manages the ‘Work it Out’ project on behalf of South Lanarkshire Council.

Lady Haughey warmly welcomed everyone to the launch and Chief Executive of Kilbryde Hospice, Gordon McHugh went onto highlight the excitement around the partnership which truly shows that Kilbryde Hospice is open to all across South Lanarkshire saying that “Kilbryde Hospice’s mission statement highlights that access to treatment or employment in its programmes aims to complement the overall provision of palliative care within the community”.

The opening of the café was kindly sponsored by Brakes. Over 20 attendees then stayed on to enjoy light refreshments and the opportunity to find out more about ‘Kilbryde Hospice Kafe’.

The Kilbryde Hospice Kafe will open to the public for business on Thursday 5 May and will continue to run on a Monday, Thursday and Friday throughout the year 10:00am until 3:00pm. The hospice hopes to provide a menu over 5 days per week after the summer school break.