A PIONEERING Borders community café which has supported more than 150 vulnerable people over eight years is to cease trading at the end of next month, it has been announced.

The decision to close The Almond Tree in Hawick was taken with great reluctance by trustees of the charity at an Extraordinary Meeting on Monday (November 28).

But in the end a failure to attract sufficient mature volunteers to work alongside and support the paid staff, together with spiralling costs, meant closure of the High Street venture became inevitable.

Despite the regret the trustees are able to look back on many achievements in helping vulnerable placements develop their skills, move on to further educational opportunities and into employment.

It was also important to the trustees that financial obligations were met and that the five part-time workers receive proper redundancy payouts and that bills owed to suppliers are paid.

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Jenni Green, chair of the trustees, said: “We were there to help vulnerable people find employment. People who did struggle to find work for various reasons, many of them social reasons, and we’ve had a lot of people who have come through the cafe that have been in that position.

“The café has been able to provide a family atmosphere, and within that atmosphere people have begun to recover from some of the traumas they have been through.

“This is not a decision that has been taken quickly. We have seen the writing on the wall for a few months. It’s terribly important that we have mature volunteers to support the paid staff, not only to produce good food, but also to nurture those vulnerable placements to make sure they are coping with the pressure of the customers and the pressure of the service to become confident enough to hold down a job.

“We made appeals for people to come forward but I think that because of the general impact of COVID and the recession people are now hunkering down in their homes, not willing to come out and be brave and do things. I feel that people are a bit depressed and not wanting to put themselves out there and do something difficult.

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“For us it is a great disappointment to come to that point but you can’t magic people to come forward.

“What’s  important for us is that we should treat well the staff who have served us for years and that we left enough money to give them a good redundancy payout and that we were able to pay the bills of all the people that supply us and not leave them without being paid.”

The café will close as a solvent charity in due course and remaining assets distributed according to its constitution, benefitting other Hawick charities with similar aims to The Almond Tree, particularly ‘the relief of poverty’ and to support those facing ‘disability and disadvantage’.

Jenni thanked everyone who had supported the venture over the years, adding: “I want to say what a privilege it has been to serve the community in this way. Thank you everybody for your understanding, love and encouragement.”