Pepper Pot Day Centre
Afro-Caribbean Social and Day-Care Services
In 1981, Pansey Jeffrey saw the need to establish a community specifically for the elder West Indian and Afro-Caribbean population. After receiving a grant from the local council, Jeffrey set up the Pepper Pot Day Centre in Kensington, and with the help of a lottery grant they refurbished the building to its present condition.
The Pepper Pot Day Centre aims to provide a comprehensive and high quality service to older people form the African-Caribbean community to effect more independent living in their own homes. Pepper Pot offers its services to both the more active and more frail members of its community, with emphasis placed on different services for different members. For instance, its luncheon services are targeted towards its more active members, while its day-care services are intended for its frail and disabled members.
The Pepper Pot's wide range of outreach, day-care, and luncheon club services includes weekly aromatherapy sessions, arts and crafts, a bathing service, Bible study, Bingo, Eurythmy, family worship, Keep Fit chair aerobics, movies, music and movement classes, reflexology, reminiscence sessions, reflexology, yoga, luncheon club, and meals on wheels providing hot Caribbean food. The day centre also provides transport, health promotion, and an outreach service which includes befriending and annual arranged events from day trips to parties.
The Friends of Pepper Pot officially began in 2001, when Michael Portillo, then Member of Parliament for Kensington, spoke at a lively meeting of Friends, Members, Staff and Trustees of Pepper Pot Day Centre. Volunteers have allowed the centre to maximise its work of caring for its members, and for the wider community of North Kensington, a deprived inner city area with many social needs.
Pepper Pot's 25th Anniversary on 9 June 2006 was honoured by a visit from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, giving the highest official recognition of its widely acknowledged status within the community.
The Friends are currently working hard to raise much needed funds for a minibus with wheelchair access. This fundraising campaign was launched with a party at the High Commission of St. Lucia. The Friends are also looking for new members and plan to launch a project which will aim to get more young people volunteering at the centre.
Contact details
info@pepperpotdaycentre.co.uk
Tel: 020 8968 6940
PepperPotDayCentre.co.uk