A haven for lonely pensioners and bored youngsters is being created in Wickford's old Co-op store.

The shop, in the Broadway, is being transformed into a Mediterranean-style cafe to provide a meeting place for young and old alike.

The resource centre will serve tea and biscuits for the elderly during the day and eventually provide a kind of youth club for teenagers during the evening.

A team of volunteers is currently working hard to paint murals, fit a kitchen and set up attractive tables.

The project is the brainchild of the trustees of Wickford's Grace Christian Fellowship church, though they stress they are not trying to recruit more members.

Trustee and Wickford GP, Dr Anthony Walton, said: "We believe the role of the church in the community is simply to reach people.

"We have been working with the elderly in the town for a couple of years and we have found loneliness is a killer.

"This will give them somewhere to meet up with other like-minded people."

The cafe should open within the next few weeks, once work is complete and Basildon Council has approved all the alterations.

Once it is up and running the trustees will turn their attention to also using the centre for youngsters, possibly with facilities such as pool tables.

Dr Walton said: "I tried twice to start youth clubs in Wickford but couldn't find the premises. The problem of youths causing trouble is multifaceted.

"There are different gangs, some of whom don't cause any problems and a few who do.

"The major problem is to bring all the different groups together. At the moment nobody is doing anything."

The trustees hope the centre may help quell the problem of bored youths hanging around street corners, spraying graffiti and causing the plague of vandalism currently sweeping Wickford.

The project has the full support of Wickford police, the town's neighbourhood watch and Basildon Council.

It is being funded solely by the church and its charity shop, attached to the side of the new centre.

The trustees are now looking for people to come forward and offer an input into exactly what form the centre should take.

They are also looking for volunteers to help with the refurbishment work or in the shop.

For more information or to offer help, call 01268 560077.

Haven - trustee Roy Braddick, volunteers shop worker Olive Byrne, Dr Anthony Walton, his social worker wife, Letesia and trustee, Jean Elsey outside the shop

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

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