Sirius Minerals Foundation have given Scarborough Mates Men’s Shed a helping hand to open their new state-of-the-art facility in their bid to alleviate social isolation in the local area.

Since their creation in 2018, Scarborough Mates have spent the intervening time searching for a place to have exclusive access to develop their facilities and further their charitable objectives, and the Sirius Minerals Foundation granted them £10,000 to help them bring this to fruition.

The Charity aims to prevent social isolation amongst the harder to reach members of the Scarborough community who may have suffered illness, unemployment, bereavement or are lacking confidence to come together in a safe environment to do many practical activities or just have a chat over a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Work on their new base has included a new kitchen area, disabled toilet, removal of internal walls to create bigger spaces, new lighting, fire security system and video surveillance, widening doorways for wheelchair access, making new doors and lastly redecorating inside and out.

Their Chairman Iain Hale said: “This group has been a real lifeline for many people. Many of our members had nobody and without this group they would have simply become isolated from society. This facility is a real community asset now and will ensure we can help more and more people in the future.

“We wouldn’t be here without the generous grant from the Sirius Minerals Foundation. Without their support we simply couldn’t have taken the risk of signing a lease on this property. It also demonstrates great understanding and support that the Foundation have waited patiently for us to find the right premises and that has helped us enormously.”

Foundation Chief Executive Leah Swain added: “The work Scarborough Mates do to help try and alleviate social isolation is fantastic and the Sirius Minerals Foundation are delighted to have supported them to be able to take this step and relocate into their own dedicated space.

“Loneliness is a big issue for so many people, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, so any support we can offer to projects like the Scarborough Mates is funding well spent.”

Anglo American makes a donation to the Foundation of £1m a year while the mine is under construction. Longer term, it will be funded by percentage of mine revenue, which is expected to amount to several million pounds per year.

For further information contact Foundation Chief Executive Leah Swain on 07724 832982 or [email protected] or visit http://www.siriusmineralsfoundation.co.uk