Teens taking on task of treating customers

POP-UP café . . . Pennine Mencap on Union Street, Mumps

TEENAGERS on the National Citizenship Service scheme are running a pop-up café to support an Oldham charity.

Hot drinks, cakes and sandwiches will be served with style at Pennine Mencap - a charity that supports adults with learning disabilities and autism.

All proceeds from tomorrow's event will go towards the charity's aim to restore and decorate its building with the view to make the café a permanent fixture.

The pop-up event is an opportunity for Pennine Mencap to trial its long-held ambition to become home to a permanent community café.

Visitors are invited to the one-off family-friendly cafe at Rhodes Bank Chambers, in Union Street, from 10am to 4pm.

Phoebe Beresford-Grindrod, from the government-run NCS team, said: "The NCS programme brings together local youths to make change in our community.

"We have partnered with Pennine Mencap, making many visits to their building to meet Elliott Sparks and Claire Jepson, who run the charity, and also had the chance to meet their service users.

"On Saturday, we will have tables set up for the public to come in and relax.

"We will be serving and waiting on people in the cafe, and hopefully raising awareness about their cause.

"The money raised through the cafe will be donated straight to the charity to help them in their mission of restoring and decorating their building and also making the cafe a permanent fixture in the building so anyone can enjoy it at any time."

A live performance of vintage songs will give visitors the chance to enjoy music with their afternoon tea.

A pool table will also be open all day, with a suggested 50p donation per game.

Chairman Elliot Sparks said: "For one day only you are invited to pop in and enjoy tea, coffee, cakes, sandwiches and traditional scones in our friendly environment in Oldham town centre.

"The cafe has been organised and will be run by a team of fantastic young students from the NCS who have been volunteering to support Pennine Mencap.

"It will be a showcase for the ambition and skills of the NCS students so we are aiming to make it a success for them too."

The long-term vision of Pennine Mencap is to establish a high-quality café that is open to the public while providing volunteering, training and work opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and autism.

The charity hopes this will help integrate people with disabilities into the community while regenerating the Mumps area.

For this vision to become reality, the charity has appealed for support from tradespeople to help complete renovations.