M&S Glasgow Fort

We are a lunch club which meets every Wednesday to provide a lunch of home made soup/filled rolls/home baking/biscuits/tea/coffee for local people. We have 77 members in age groups from mid 40s to early 90s. With a mix of able bodied people, 3 wheelchair bound, 2 registered blind. The majority of our members are fit enough to make their own way to the Club but some are housebound and we collect these people each week The Club provides company, stimulation and the ability to make new friends. As well as providing lunch, we also have entertainment each week. Some weeks this is bingo, others a quiz. We also have professional singers who come along to entertain us on a regular basis. Chair aerobics is provided around every month and this is very popular and helpful with movement for some of our members We also have chiropodist who visits every 4 or 5 weeks, which is very popular Around four times each year we have a professional troupe who come along to entertain us with a 'grown up' pantomime. We make a weekly charge of £5 to those who are able to pay, to cover the running costs and allow us to arrange outings with any surplus monies. There is no pressure for payment from those unable to pay We do not collect food from any other organisation and the Neighbourly donation is a boon to our members who very much appreciate the assistance. We have been fortunate to have some financial backing from North Lanarkshire Council since our inception. We have also over the past few years been fortunate enough to have occasional donations from local businesses. Each Christmas we have a raffle to raise additional funds and when possible, we have a Social night when tickets are sold to members of the local community to come along to see what we do. We have now been on the go for 10 years and our accounts are audited each year by a local accountancy firm Whenever we have been given a donation from local businesses, we try to ensure it is publicised in our local free community magazine, Stepps on the Level. We were fortunate to be entertained by children from one of our local primary schools just before Christmas last year. We are also at present enjoying computer tuition from local primary 7 pupils The address of the Club is The Old School Centre, St Josephs Church Hall, Cardowan Road, Glasgow G33 6AA. We identify potential new members through word of mouth from local people/ organisations who advise us of vulnerable people. We have a waiting list at present as the Hall is at capacity with our existing members. We have a facebook page - Wednesday Lunch Club - which has loads of photographs plus videos showing our members joining in the fun.

We provide /sell subsidised grocery and household items from a small community store that is open to all. We receive donations from charities, business and the public. This shop is run by volunteers who are committed to helping the local community. The volunteers are committee members and our values are reflected in the constitution and our accounts are externally audited. 2025/ 26 has been another busy year for us and we have been able to continue to keep the price of a shop per customer to £3.50. The local community have been very supportive with guide groups collecting store cupboard items at a coffee morning. Glasgow city council continue to support us and we have bought a new freezer, large cool bags and a free standing hand sanitiser. These items help us to ensure food safety as we are in our second year of collecting surplus food on a Saturday and Sunday evening .

We are a community health project run by volunteers with the aim of improving awareness of healthy living in North Glasgow. Our work is done through three 'Community Food Hubs' in Springburn, Milton and Royston. Our current activities include: low price fruit and vegetables sessions, a gardening project, cookery groups, weaning workshops and outreach work.