The Herring Centre

How it works

The Little Herring Social Club runs during the week, offering a meal, activities and a place of support for people living in the community. Peer support, social activities, volunteering, training and upskilling are all part of the Social Club offer. It is an informal café setting with service users involved with the running of the club.

On a weekly basis, service users who are in active recovery from substance use run the One Cup at a Time Project. This project was funded by Norfolk Community Foundation and the aim of One Cup is to provide a weekly community brunch to people over the age of 55, to offer an opportunity to come together so we can reminisce and chat about “this week in history”.

The group was set up, run and managed by service users of Herring House Trust, who are all in recovery from substance dependency. The service users are on a journey of recovery and self-development and want to share memories “one cup at a time” with over 55’s from the local community in Great Yarmouth. In offering this service we hope to help alleviate loneliness, exchange stories and share experiences, which will improve the wellbeing of the older people and promote learning, and self-confidence for our service users. We have created new connections and brought together people from differing communities.

Reducing loneliness will impact on those older people attending the group and new connections will be made for our service users as they contribute back to the community in which they live. Shared experiences will build new communities.

The service users, plan, prepare, cook and serve a two-course meal each week. It has been a huge success.

One Cup Guest comments

Wow what a joyful experience. Kind and friendly people, great conversation and brilliant food.

Thank you everyone – I’ve really enjoyed my lunch, especially the good company

A big thank you – I’ve enjoyed the chat

The Herring Centre is a hive of activity during the week, with a range of groups meeting to take part in new learning opportunities and community support. Art groups, creative writing groups, holistic wellbeing groups, life skills training all run from the Centre.