Salvation Army

Salvation Army Penrith Community Church transforms kitchen to create long term legacy

The Salvation Army is a worldwide Christian church and registered charity, which has been fighting against social inequality and transforming lives for over 150 years.  Working at the heart of communities across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the 750 community churches and social centres offer friendship, practical help and support to some of the most disadvantaged people in our communities.  And serving the Penrith community are Major Carole Donaldson and her husband Major Alan Donaldson.

Recently, the Carole and Alan were gifted a donation by a member of the local community to create a new commercial kitchen that could be used to cater for a range of events at the church.

“The donation is a blessing” said Carole.  “But with it comes the added pressure to make sure we use it correctly to create something that not only works now, but long into the future.  As such, we needed to find the right company to work with on this exciting new project.”

After Googling ‘local commercial kitchen fitters and suppliers’, Carole established a short list of companies and then met with several contractors including Catering Partnership.

“We felt immediately connected to Catering Partnership” added Carole.  “We knew exactly what we wanted to achieve and what the dream was for the kitchen.  It had to be able to cater for everything, from coffee mornings and lunch events to eventually being used for cookery training.  Our intention was always to have clearly designated areas for food prep, cleaning, etc.”

Being an old church building also presented some other key challenges for the kitchen refit, such as uneven walls.

Project Sales Manager Anna worked closely with the community church, creating the specification and project managing the refit of the kitchen with Engineers Mark and Adrian.

“The whole team went above and beyond with the installation” said Carole.

As well as sourcing, supplying and installing the equipment, the project also required new floors and walls.

Carole summarised:

“Catering Partnership have enabled us to achieve exactly what we wanted.  They have been respectful, trustworthy with a good sense of humour thrown in.  It has been a very complex project, and inevitably some snagging had to be done but it was all sorted with minimal hassle.  Thanks to Catering Partnership, our generous donator is able to see the difference her gift will make to the local community, creating a long term legacy that will last for many years to come.”

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Catering Partnership provides the complete service for commercial kitchens and laundries, including designing, planning, supplying, installing, servicing and maintenance. The company has been working with sports clubs, hotels, restaurants, pubs, cafes, schools, colleges, care homes, hostels and local authorities for over 40 years.