Dunelm, the UK's leading homeware retailer, has opened the doors of its Stockport Pausa Cafe to the North West Stroke Community Choir to use, free of charge, after the hire cost of the group's previous rehearsal space doubled overnight.
The North West Stroke Community Choir is made up of members who have either had a stroke themselves, had friends of family members affected by strokes-or people who have worked with stroke victims.
Joyce Booth who founded the choir in 2014 said: "I wanted to set up a group for people whose lives have been affected by strokes, so they had something to enjoy and look forward to outside of rehabilitation appointments. Singing uses both sides of the brain and so I knew this would be good for people."
After seeing an advertisement in the Dunelm Stockport Community Support group on Facebook about using the Pausa Cafe as a community space, Joyce got in touch and the choir been rehearsing there ever since.
"When we were told that the cost to hire our rehearsal space was going to double, I was really worried about the future of the choir as we just couldn't afford it. I was over the moon when Dunelm offered out their Pausa Cafe space to us free of charge. If it wasn't for Dunelm, we wouldn't still be running."
Stockport Dunelm Store Manager Simon Goldie commented: "It's our absolute pleasure to offer out the Pausa Cafe as a rehearsal space for the local community to use - especially as the Cafe obviously closes in the evenings. Hearing the wonderful North West Stroke Community Choir singing throughout our store on Monday evenings is amazing and it really lifts the mood of our customers and store colleagues."
Dunelm's Pausa Cafes are available for local community groups to use free of charge after 6pm. Groups interested in learning more should contact their local store directly or get in touch via their local store's Community Support Facebook group.