DISABLED youngsters are invited to take part in a new opportunity to learn life skills in a café.Ipswich charity Out and About has launched the Café Project, which is a ten-day course designed to teach a range of skills, from counting money to inventing recipes.

DISABLED youngsters are invited to take part in a new opportunity to learn life skills in a café.

Ipswich charity Out and About has launched the Café Project, which is a ten-day course designed to teach a range of skills, from counting money to inventing recipes.

The independent charity, based at Fore Street, Ipswich, seeks to help those less able become more integrated into everyday leisure activities and provide them with the confidence needed to feel fully included.

The charity's chief executive Steve Allman, said: “We are all about bridging the gap between these children and leisure facilities.

“You don't have to be interested in catering to do the course. It is about learning life skills and just happens to be in a café environment. The young people get really involved in the menus and even help shop for the ingredients.

“There is space for people to come and take part. We have had about 10 people do the course so far but we would like to get that up to 50 people a year.”

Those taking part in the course have to follow a programme and fill in sections of a folder with help from Fran Hale and Christine Miller who run the café.

The course for 13 to 25-year-olds costs £250 and includes all materials, training and support from the team.

One of the young people just finishing the course, 16-year-old Sadie Palizdar, said: “I have enjoyed every minute of it.

“I like the till work the best. I would love to work with food one day.”

Out and About works with 250 disabled children across Suffolk and Norfolk, with all disabilities, from physical to learning.

Anyone is invited to come along to use the charity's facilities, whereby volunteers take a child out to get involved in leisure activities, for example trips to the cinema or the swimming pool.

Anyone interested in taking part in the project or becoming a volunteer at the charity, should call 0870 7705767, e-mail café@out-and-about.org.uk, or visit www.out-and-about.org.uk.

Are you a charity that has just launched an initiative? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.