Volunteers at a pensioners’ lunch club are fearful for its future after Wokingham Borough Council asked for a fee.
The Spencers Wood Lunch Club, which meets weekly at Spring Gardens retirement home in Shinfield, has been running since 1987.
Now Wokingham Borough Council, which runs the home, wants to charge the club £25 a week up front, starting in December – having let it use the facilities free of charge for decades. Volunteers say the fee would rise every year.
Janice King, who has volunteered for the club for 16 years, says the fee might price some members out.
She said: “I will have to increase the price of the meals. I know people say they’re cheap, but the volunteers work very hard to keep the prices down.”
She added: “Some people have limited incomes, they might only have state pension. A couple of pounds a week for a meal is a lot of money for them, but they do love it. We give them nice meals and it’s a really jolly place to be.”
Although the club uses Spring Gardens, it is open to non-residents too. Now Wokingham Borough Council has said it wants to begin charging the club after residents felt they were subsidising it through their service charge.
A council spokesperson said: “When the scheme originally started, many of the people who came to the lunch club lived at Spring Gardens.
“Over the years, this has changed and only three or four residents now use the lunch club, with the rest of the attendees coming from other communities.”
The spokesperson added: “Residents at Spring Gardens pay a service change for communal areas – for gas, electric, water and cleaning staff.”
“The lunch club has been provided with the space for free in the past, but now that utility costs have gone up so much, it has been decided that any organisations that use the communal spaces should meet the cost for their activities.
“The group will be charged £25 per week, but to help support the group adjust to the fee, they will receive a 50% discount until April 2024, so will only need to pay £12.50.”
The council’s statement did not explain how Spring Gardens residents would benefit from the fee. And Ms King said she had not been told directly of the council’s offer of a reduced fee until April.
She said: “To my knowledge they won’t be reimbursing the residents. So if that’s the case Wokingham Borough Council will be getting paid twice, by the residents and us.
“It seems very short sighted and not very community minded.”
