Volunteer Team of the Year Finalist – Big Table Café

Big Table Café – Cathedral Isle of Man

Every Monday the team prepare and serve a freshly cooked three course meal as well as offering meals to takeaway.

Customers eat what they like and pay what they can – putting whatever they can afford into a sealed envelope.

The team also spend time chatting to customers, offering a warm welcome and companionship.

The team is composed of some Cathedral Isle of Man congregational members but largely draws volunteers from the community who are from a variety of faiths and none.

The whole team is voluntary. There is a preparation team, Chef team, a waiting-on team, and a washing-up team who work well together and will support each other when there are staff shortages in particular areas.

The team eagerly respond to special requests, for example, providing in addition to the weekly lunch a meal for all attending the Chrism Mass.

They are meticulous in catering for a range of diets and coping with allergies and making the 60 or so customers from whatever background welcome and enabling them to also have take-away meals for the coming week, especially encouraging those who have limited means or limited catering facilities.

The welcome enables people of all backgrounds to feel at home. The method of payment is by sealed envelope which may have anything from a couple of pence to £20.

The project has been going for a number of years, its delivery service was a lifeline in Covid.

‘The volunteers give the impression that nothing is too much trouble, and it is the highlight of some customers week.’

See all of our finalists here.