Published: September 7, 2008
New Highbridge community café is set to open its doors this week

A new community café is set to open its doors in Highbridge later this week with the aim of providing refreshments and advice about healthy lifestyles.

The café will open in Morland Hall on Friday (September 12th) and is being run as part of a joint initiative by the Sedgemoor Community Partnership and Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge Regeneration Partnership.

Community Development Worker Sue Quatermass, pictured below, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "The café will be the first step to creating a community hub that fills a gap in service provision in Highbridge."

"We hope it will eventually offer local job information, benefits advice, volunteering information, return to work taster courses, young parent groups and more, all built around the cafe as a community space."

It will offer free coffee and tea in a community setting where local people can get together with a focus around food and healthy lifestyle choices.

Each week over the next six weeks there will be opportunities to learn about food and the role it plays in health and wellbeing, with talks and taster sessions on various food-related subjects.

"The first café will focus on 'good mood food', with Emily Dodd from the Somerset Primary Care Trust, who will be on hand to give helpful advice on how food really does colour our feelings and moods."

"This is essential at this time of year, as we move into autumn. There are many who dread the onset of shorter days, yet by eating certain foods and getting enough daylight every day, we can make a real difference to our quality of life."

The café will be open between 11am and 2pm at Morland Hall in Pearce Drive, Highbridge. The cafe has benefited from grant funding from the Sedgemoor Health and Wellbeing Fund.

For more information, or to offer your assistance as a volunteer, contact Sue Quatermass or Sarah Steadman on 01278 785002.