The Duchess of Gloucester visited the Pantry, during a wider visit to the region.
Nicola McIlwaine, Pantry manager, said: “She particularly wanted to visit our Pantry and Renew (our clothing facility), however some of our other environments were there on the day too e.g. Connect Cafe, English lessons & Hope Rising (a programme we have developed for people suffering with mild depression and or anxiety).
She toured the Pantry and especially loved that fresh fruit and vegetables are available as part of our offering. She concluded her visit by cutting a cake and gave a speech thanking everyone for their continued work in our community.
It was obviously top secret and we couldn’t even tell our volunteers so we brought them under the guise of a thank you lunch where all was revealed. The Duchess was really lovely and spent lots of time with the volunteers chatting about what they do and seemed genuinely interested.
