Fury as funding for charity cafe ends
But owner vows to fight on for community
A Hamilton charity boss who offers help and support to lone parents and disadvantaged families has vowed to keep going, despite the Scottish Government pulling her funding.
Lesley Robertson, who runs Juniors Play Cafe, was left “heartbroken” and “furious” after learning her ‘Investing in Communities Fund’ application has been unsuccessful for the first time in six years.
Lesley, a lone parent herself, set up the business with full backing from the Scottish Government back in 2017, providing yearly updates on the work she does within the community.
This includes running a weekly foodbank, babybank, a school clothing bank, offering free activity packs for families to keep children entertained, free bookbug and movers and shakers sessions, access to play, money management and benefit support among other vital services.
She also contributes to Hamilton Our Town and regularly helps with the annual Christmas parade.
However, in a letter from the Scottish Government last week, Lesley was informed that her application had been “unsuccessful”.
The letter continued: “The activities and outcomes for the proposal could have been further strengthened by including more evidence on how the project will have a positive impact on people and the community.
“More information on how the impact of the project will be sustained after the funding period.
“The independent panel decision is final and there is no appeal process.”
Lesley has been left aghast at the decision, having fully detailed the work her community cafe does.
She told the Advertiser: “I am in disbelief, heartbroken and furious to be honest.
“How can the Scottish Government pull the plug on funding for such a vital lifeline community project?
“The work we have done over the last six years is invaluable and includes 300 families supported each week, access to play, a free community supermarket, in-house counselling, money management and benefit support.
“We also provided a ‘warm place’ this winter, children and adults have been taken on day trips with everything provided, 300 tickets to Hamilton Town Hall pantomime, 175 children dressed fully for winter, 338 Christmas dinners provided and all this is just for a start.
“But the Scottish Government have decided this year we simply didn’t do enough to have a positive impact on our community. “It’s a disgrace.”
The move has caused uproar within the community with people keen to support Lesley as she bids to continue her service.
Central Scotland MSP Monica Lennon said: “It’s concerning to hear that the Scottish Government are pulling essential funding away from Juniors Play Cafe.
“For almost six years now, it has acted as a community hub, which many families have grown to rely on.
“With the increased pressures of the cost of living crisis, it’s more important than ever families have somewhere to go where they can seek advice, chat to other parents and simply feel less alone.
“It is simply not right that a charitable organisation like this should be forced to rely on crowdfunding donations to stay afloat.
“If this decision leads to the closure of the cafe, it would be a monumental blow and I’d urge the Scottish Government to rethink this disastrous decision.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Investing in Communities Fund (ICF) will support 100 community organisations delivering initiatives for their communities addressing poverty and disadvantage through funding of £27 million over 2023 to 2026.
“The Scottish Government recognises there will be organisations which benefited from the (ICF) previously which have not been successful in the second round of the fund.
“All applicants to the first round of the fund were asked to demonstrate how they would sustain the delivery of the project beyond the period of the ICF funding.
“While we welcomed applications from current recipients, we advised that this did not guarantee a future award and all applications were assessed equally against the fund’s criteria.”