Newbury Soup Kitchen Owner Expresses Distress Over Relocation Search

“This year has been full of so many incredible highs and so many lows,” stated the head of a charitable organization currently seeking a new premises. Meryl Praill, who leads Newbury Soup Kitchen in Berkshire, indicated that the location they have occupied for four years will soon be under new ownership, making it “highly likely he is going to need our space” by March. She conveyed feeling “utterly crushed” due to their inability to secure a new facility for storage and offices for the upcoming year. “I’m trying not to worry about it too much because things do come along,” Ms Praill commented. She acknowledged: “I don’t know what’s going to happen to our storage, parking, the office spaces and everything around that next year.” Ms Praill assured listeners of BBC Radio Berkshire that the charity, which currently operates from the Hambridge Lane industrial estate, would “make it work”. “The food provision wont stop and that’s the most important thing,” she stated. She further mentioned their readiness to work remotely if necessary. The team received an email last week from the Channel 4 program, The Last Leg, extending an invitation to accept an award on the show on Friday. Ms Praill indicated that she and her team initially “thought it was a scam”. She subsequently received confirmation from the program that they had been granted the “Hans Award,” named after the mascot for the Paralympic Games Paris 2024. “I get quite emotional because I can’t believe that a charity that I set up from a personal situation, where I was thinking I was just going to feed people two hours a week, to what it is now, I never would’ve imagined,” Ms Praill expressed. Newbury Soup Kitchen offers a freshly cooked and prepared hot three-course meal every Thursday, Wednesday, and Saturday evening for individuals experiencing homelessness, those vulnerably housed, the less fortunate, and the homeless residing on the streets of Newbury and West Berkshire. Updates from BBC Berkshire are available on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is also available.