Lidl Gainsborough Beaumont St

We believe everyone in society should have equal opportunities and choice to live the life they choose to live. We provide group sessions, dropin, food sharing, short courses, information advice and guidance, advocacy for dealing with issues with statutory and private companies, and we provide opportunities and empowerment to members to seek a better quality of life.

GAPA offers an all year round play service for children and young people aged 0 – 14years, it is based in the heart of the Gainsborough community and also offers outreach play for those not able to access our site. We currently have 430 members who come from all areas of Gainsborough and surrounding villages. The service consists of an open access adventure playground and groups for children aged 0 – 4 years with their parents/carers. All of these services are carefully planned and are all based on play and learning and achieving positive outcomes for children and young people. At GAPA we believe that play is an important part of any child's life and the benefits are immense, we allow children to have opportunities to develop their sense of self-identity, self-esteem, to empathise with the situation of others and to grow aware of the consequences of their actions. At GAPA we encourage children to use its resources as they choose, which provides a wider range of opportunities and shows our trust in the children and that we value their input. Most of all, we allow children to be children and to have fun, relax, make friends and play. At GAPA we work in close partnership with families as a whole and have built up excellent working relationships and trust within the local community and are seen as the focal point of the estate were people of all ages come for lots of different reasons including, friendship, advice and support. GAPA has almost 3 acres of land that allows the children to be outdoors all year round in all weathers. We have a varied environment including a large and established hedgerow, wild areas were the grass is left to grow long, a water area that includes a cave and waterfall that falls into two pebbled streams and a large playing field that has areas of fixed play equipment and areas that have been developed over the years such as a fire pit, bug garden and sensory area. Outdoor play has many benefits for children and enables them to interact with others and helps to build confidence and social skills, and we are aware and understand the importance of research evidence that shows that the regular participation of physical activity provides all children, including children with a disability, with a wide range of physical, social and mental health benefits.

Eudaimonia is concerned with addressing the cycle of poverty, poor health and unemployment and to improve the conditions of life in socially and economically disadvantaged communities. We promote sustainable means of achieving community growth and regeneration working from the ground up, using simple, collaborative actions. Eudaimonia established The Super Kitchen project in the UK with the aim of bringing communities together by providing social eating spaces that serve freshly cooked, wholesome affordable food for everyone to enjoy, aiming at reducing social isolation and loneliness and improving peoples͛ health and wellbeing through healthy eating and social interaction and to reduce food waste. To date, over 50 Super Kitchen’s have been established across the East Midlands, Warwickshire and Birmingham. The number of new Super Kitchens continues to grow. The development of the Community Shop & Social Lounge model was developed from feedback received by service users of the Super Kitchen project. Two key identifiers were the need for improved access to affordable food and access to free community spaces where people could meet. These services help to develop community cohesion and resilience and improve the quality of the lives of its users through encouraging community engagement and participation in volunteering, training and employment opportunities. The shop provides a second route to market for large volumes of surplus food that might otherwise end up in landfill and is made available at substantially discounted prices. This is enhanced by developing relationship with other food business in the local area and food growers to ensure that all local food is put to best use. We provide food parcels including fresh food, household goods and pet foods and a follow up ‘pantry model’ keeps these goods affordable to those in need, especially those impacted by the benefits freeze, and implementation of universal credit which is felt throughout fragile communities. There are no charges for any foods donated via Neighbourly which are made available through our free food rack, community fridge and freezers or distributed to groups using our services. The social lounge acts as a vibrant community hub offering a free safe meeting place for anyone to use. The space is also made available free of charge for the community to organise and run groups, sessions or activities that help them to become the solution to identified needs or problems in their community.