Lump sum award will be used to upgrade the facility and turn it into a learning café for local residents.
A complete revamp of a Paisley-based community café is on the menu following an award of £25,000 to the Tannahill Centre by Glasgow Airport’s FlightPath Fund.
The five-figure windfall will be used to completely overhaul the community café at the centre, based in Ferguslie Park.
The upgrade will also allow staff to use the popular venue as a learning café by providing supported volunteering and employment opportunities to a number adults and young people from the surrounding areas looking to find work.
By providing cooking skills, increasing knowledge and instilling confidence, the learning café will provide trainees with a gateway to employment within the catering and hospitality sectors.
Jamie Mallan, business transformation manager at the Tannahill Centre, said: “We are on cloud nine following the FlightPath Fund's generous award. In our recent community consultation, local people told us they really valued our cafe, but they wanted it to play a bigger role in their community.
“The £25,000 will enable us to refurbish our cafe so we can provide training, volunteering and other learning opportunities for those who need a little extra help to get into work, college or other training schemes.
“We've been keen to rename our cafe for a while now, but have struggled to settle on a name, so we feel renaming it the FlightPath Café is a perfect way to show our gratitude to our generous funders!"
In September last year, Glasgow Airport’s FlightPath Fund announced plans to award the £25,000 lump sum to one charity or organisation from Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East and West Dunbartonshire.
Councillor Iain Nicolson, Leader of Renfrewshire Council, has been a member of the FlightPath Fund committee since it was introduced in 2010.
He said: “The Tannahill Centre is a fantastic community hub and the café is very popular with residents in Ferguslie Park and the people employed by the various local business and organisations based there.
“We received 59 applications for our lump sum award from across the four areas the FlightPath Fund serves and they were each of a very high standard.
“The Tannahill Centre’s application really stood out and the committee was really impressed with the plans to not only revamp the facility, but also the commitment shown to incorporate employment and training opportunities by transforming the venue into a learning café.
“With the backing of this lump sum award, these ambitious plans can now go ahead and I’m looking forward to coming back for the grand opening in the months ahead.”
Last year, 74 local charities and groups received almost £162,000 in awards from the Glasgow Airport FlightPath Fund. To find out more about applying for funding support, visit: www.glasgowairport.com/flight-path-fund