Kendal church 'gifts' new home to charity group (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Kendal church 'gifts' new home to charity group

7:30pm Tuesday 19th March 2013 in News

A SOUTH Lakeland charity which helps the homeless has a new head office – thanks to a Kendal church.

Kendal Parish Church is ‘gifting’ Nether Hall to Manna House, through its charitable Kirkland Trust Now planning applications are being submitted to allow for a change of use for the building.

Rob Saner-Haigh, vicar of Kendal Parish Church and chairman of the Trust, said: “We are really pleased to be working with Manna House to serve people.

“For us as a church this is just another example of the importance of outreach and of us offering help and sup-port to those who need it.

“We hope that this new development will provide a warm and welcoming place for this work.”

Manna House is a charity providing advice, advocacy, training and a drop-in centre for residents of South Lakeland, including people who are vulnerably housed, homeless, lonely or needing help. It has been looking for a permanent base for some time.

The new premises have been offered on a long term lease by the Kirkland Trust.

The plan would see the creation of an extra floor in the building for office space, training, consultation and meeting rooms. There will be no residential accom-modation on the site.

Jonathan Brook, chief officer of Manna House, said: “We have been looking for a new home for some time and are pleased to be working with the parish church and look forward to creating a new welcoming space for our work.

“We hope to incorporate a high level of green tech-nologies and that local people will be involved in the development.”

If the planning application is successful, a fund-raising campaign will be launched to enable the works to be completed.

It is hoped that Manna House could move to Nether Hall within two years.

Find out more about Manna House at www.manna-house.org.uk