Brewery staff join voulunteers to give Broomhouse Centre a facelift in 24 hours

Volunteers had one day to give the Broomhouse Centre in Edinburgh, a local food bank and St Davids Church a much needed makeover. Picture; Ian Georgeson

It's exactly the kind of challenge that would usually see the DIY SOS team racing against the clock to complete.

The Broomhouse Centre – which helps more than 500 people – became the unlikely setting for a Challenge Anneka-style task as local residents joined forces with workers from the nearby Caledonian Brewery in a bid to give the centre and nearby St David’s Church a much-needed facelift in the space of just 24 hours. The centre provides vital support to young and old in the area through its food bank and social enterprise schemes.

Around 100 volunteers painted the outside of the centre, spruced up the railings and vestibule of the church and built and installed bird boxes in the centre’s gardens as part of the Brewing Good Laughs initiative, a partnership between the brewery and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.

The centre’s chief executive, Bridie Ashrowan, said she was delighted with the results of the day’s work and thanked the brewery for its support.

Picture; Ian Georgeson

“Everything is looking great, the sun was shining and the work we’ve accomplished looks fantastic,” she said.

“Caledonian Brewery is a big employer for people in the area so to have them engaging with their community is absolutely fantastic.

“One of their workers came down around this time last year to donate surplus food to the food bank and saw the impact we were making in the community, which I think attracted them back.

“Caledonian Brewery were extremely helpful in making sure no alcohol branding was anywhere to be found. We work with a lot of vulnerable young people in the area and we didn’t want to expose them to that, so they were great in making sure this was about the community.”