Just across the bay from the popular seaside town of St Ives is Hayle; an up-and-coming town with a rich industrial heritage and three miles of famous golden sand. It’s also the location of our headquarters, and home to many of us who work at Aspects Holidays; a town we take great pride in.
However, despite its beautiful landscape, like much of Cornwall, Hayle is home to many who struggle to make ends meet. With this in mind, it can be hard for families to find affordable things to do during the weekends and holidays, aside from visiting the park or beach.
Noticing a growing need for an affordable community venue in Hayle, Nathan Thomas, who grew up in the local area, took on the cafe by the park and recreational ground in Hayle just over a year ago, with big plans. Determined to establish a space for the community, The REC cafe has become more than just a park cafe - it’s a thriving hub bringing together people who live in the area.
Since opening The REC, Nathan has organised several community events, established weekly clubs, and installed a refurbished shipping container to provide sheltered seating (the only covered space in the area). Working with the town council and various other organisations, such as Action for Children, The REC’s youth club has helped to reduce anti-social behaviour in the area, while the weekly social clubs have provided a space for the elderly to get together and combat loneliness.
Throughout the summer, The REC hosted three outdoor cinema events, each with three screenings, all completely free to attend! Unfortunately, in true Cornish fashion, it rained for each of these days! Despite the weather, the screenings went ahead as planned, with staggering costs for the equipment hire and insurance cover. At the insistence of locals, Nathan set up a crowd funder to cover the cost of the event insurance. Towards the end of the summer season, following generous donations from members of the public totalling nearly £1000, we were delighted to be able to step in and donate the final £580 to bring the fundraiser to its target amount of £1500.
Nathan Thomas expressed his gratitude: "We are so very grateful to all the donations people have made to help us with our vision and drive to invest in the local community. It has been humbling and encouraging to see people recognise our passion to build a thriving community hub at The REC café. We are so appreciative to Aspects for giving us the financial gift of £580 which took us up to our crowd funder target to help cover some of the costs of various community events we organised this year.
Thanks again to everyone on the Aspects team and in the community for your ongoing support.”
PR and Marketing Executive, Jenna Ali, commented: “We were delighted to be able to help The REC raise funds for their summer events and activities, and we hope to be able to support these community events in the future. It’s fantastic to see so much happening at the REC for the people of Hayle.”
Find out more about what’s on at The REC by following their Facebook page>