The Stone Quarry Crew is run by residents from the Stone Quarry Estate in East Grinstead. Our aim is to improve the quality of community cohesion, promote togetherness, tolerance and community wellbeing. We bring the community together for social events to reduce the effects of social isolation and ASB.
The Quarry Café opened for the first time in St Luke’s community room at the end of September 2017 to create a regular meeting place. The Quarry Café is staffed entirely by volunteers and is open every Wednesday from 10am to 6:30pm, at 3:45pm it becomes the Youth Café where all are welcome but focus is on the younger residents with various activities available.
The Café sources speciality coffee locally roasted to produce great coffee that’s worth coming out for, this is responsible for a high level of returning visitors and many will stay for more than one drink. This extends the time spent together and is effective in reducing social isolation and building community cohesion. Our similar quality hot chocolate is also a great incentive at the Youth Café and offered free.
The Café has been a turning point for the Crew, improving our outreach significantly. Attendance data for month 7 shows 165 visits (45 unique visitors), far beyond our projected results and proves the need for this valuable activity.