Revival strives to support our community with free, accessible mental health support and information in calm, inclusive and inviting surroundings with great food & music. Good food and services have the power to enhance our communities and transform our everyday lives. We are currently raising funds to renovate an old disused building at 58 High Street, Whitstable to relocate our beloved retro Revival Food & Mood café and wellness hub. Having been evicted during lockdown 2021 Revival has been given the opportunity to relocate (with community support) to a fantastic central location. But like so many of us the building we have found needs a really big hug, neglected for years and open to the elements it requires serious, but achievable, renovation.

We know we can do it; and are so grateful for all the positive support and feedback we have received from our community so far; we have now need to turn this into the cement and plaster we need to literally lay the foundations for our wonderful mental health community. We know the positive impact Revival can achieve if it has the security of premises. As a social enterprise its trading arm, the café, is the main funding source for keeping the doors open to all and to sustain its vital mental health support and initiatives, to include: MenTalk, MenTalkWalk, Women's Wellness, Make Mend & Motivate, Wild-Wellbeing and Beach Clean together. It will provide:

A safe space if needed with friendly informal support from trained staff

Wellbeing workshops, training and initiatives

Creative mental health support

Youth café

Space for local wellbeing practitioners to hire/utilise the space

Community events, fundraising initiatives and a pay-it-forward scheme

"Knowing that I can go to the peer support group every week is such a comfort, being with people that just understand is so important to me, it can be so exhausting pretending to be ok all the time" (Participant, Women's Wellness peer support group).

"The MenTalk group has given me the confidence to speak up about my depression...after an up and down week I can't wait to go, I open up more and get great support" (Participant MenTalk peer support group)

We have been actively raising funds for over a year, including ring-fencing funds raised from bespoke mental health training to businesses and organizations and wonderful local support with donations from car-boot and eBay sales and fantastic contributions from a local ultra-marathon runner, a brilliant quiz night and a foot-stomping SugarSoul benefit gig, and not forgetting a share of the funds raised and donated by the Whitstable Carnival committee. Unfortunately it has not been a good time to undertake building works! The spiralling cost of building materials means that we still have some way to go to reach our target. You can help us with the last big fundraising push to get us to the finish line.

So we have set up this JustGiving page to make it easier to support our work and renovation campaign. Every penny makes a difference, here is some idea of what your pennies can buy:

£10 would buy approximately 2 bags of much needed plaster or cement

£20 would buy approximately 10 metres of treated timber (we need lots!)

£30 would buy approximately 3 plasterboard sheets or 1sqm of flooring

£50 would buy decorating materials such as paint, wallpaper etc

Larger amounts would of course be gratefully received and will contribute towards:

Fire doors, noise and fire-retardant ceiling boards, accessible toilet, patio doors, booth seating area, electrics and plumbing, flooring, decking and labour.

If you are a business and would like to sponsor any part of the renovation, we would be delighted to hear from you, please contact us via email: revival2whitstable@gmail.com . Travis Perkins in Canterbury have already kindly contacted us to say they will donate some materials to #rebuildrevival.

An ambitious vision for mental health support:

More importantly for us, we know what your donation can achieve, your investment in the community will allow us to grow alongside the needs of, not only Whitstable, but all within East Kent and our visitors to the area, now and for generations to come. Our vision for Revival includes:

A tranquil indoor garden area with water feature

Mixed/varied seating options to include wooden booth seating for quiet dining

A shop area for Revival merchandise and local creatives

Children's area with creative space, play space and reading area

Workshop and training room, also available for local wellbeing practitioners

An outside patio garden and living larder that can also be used for healthy cooking workshops.

Bring back our vinyl decks to add the nostalgic finishing touch and allow for our music is medicine for the mind group.

Now, more than ever, we need safe, accessible and effective mental health spaces, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England alone. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly seen a deterioration of general mental health and an increase in numbers needing support. We have the opportunity, with your support, to make a difference and ensure mental health and wellbeing remains a visible and important priority. Revival's new home will allow us to create something wonderful, a truly unique vibrant space offering employment, a place to meet, eat and socialise, attend workshops, training, wellbeing therapies, community groups and events, facilitated peer support and mentoring, access information and onward referrals to other local support networks and so much more a hive of community activity and support and a vital community asset.

All donations given can be accompanied by the name of a loved one in memory of, or recognition of someone who has helped you through a challenging time. These names will be kept together in a book of inspiration that would sit proudly within Revival, to ensure that they too are part of the community build.

We're so grateful for your support and look forward to sharing our exciting journey with you all!