Cafe wins public vote to receive �6,000 award.

Seaton’s FREEdom Caf� has received a much-needed cash boost to help towards the costs of refurbishing its kitchen facilities.

The caf�, which is run at St Gregory’s Church Hall, received a donation of �6,000 from NatWest as part of its Community Force initiative.

It was one of three groups chosen from each of the programme’s 158 Community Force areas to win the �6,000 award.

Groups applied during the summer last year and a public online vote was carried out to decide the lucky recipients.

Around 7,000 charities and projects in the UK took part and more than 450,000 votes were cast.

A spokeswoman for the cafe said: “We were amazed and very grateful to the 396 people who voted for our community cafe project and, of course, to NatWest when we learnt our project had fulfilled their entry criteria.

“To be one of the winners from the 5,811 projects who entered was amazing.”

The money will help towards the costs of new kitchen equipment.

She added: “The money will be spent on much needed new equipment for our kitchen, Double oven cooker, fridge/chiller and freezer, stainless steel movable table bench, electrical and plumbing work.

“Any money left over from this spend will go towards the decoration of the kitchen and refurbishment of our hall. We need a new roof (currently leaking) and our windows all need replacing.

The cafe could also benefit from updated toilet facilities.

FREEdom cafe will close during August to allow for refurbishments to take place.

It is open on the third Saturday of each month from 10.30am to 1.30pm.