Repaying community

Her husband John and she ran a deli and smokehouse in the town for 25 years before selling up and retiring. But John died in 2016, just a year after retirement.  Their daughter Joanne’s emigration to China for a teaching job a few weeks ago was the catalyst for her mum’s new venture. 
Pauline said: “I was lonely and thought that I’d got to do something.
“I’ve always been in contact with people and I love people. Bolsover has helped support me so I wanted to put something back into the community. What you put into a thing, you get back and it’s doing good.....you don’t count the cost.”

Every Tuesday, from 10.30am until 1pm, Pauline and her small team of helpers open the friendship kitchen in Bolsover’s Parish Rooms, a venue which has been supplied free of charge.
The clientele during the six weeks since it opened has included Pauline’s 94-year-old father-in-law, helper Eileen Straw’s 18-year-old niece and a cyclist who travels from Chesterfield. Pauline said: “There is also a lovely lady who comes on a mobility scooter right through Bolsover. She loves it, she sits and chats for a couple of hours. I’m getting someone out of their home who would otherwise just sit there.”

Big-hearted traders such as Oven Door Bakehouse, JJ’s Café and the veg man on Bolsover market donate bread, pastries and produce for the meals which Pauline pays for out of her own pocket.
Pauline spends all day on Monday at home cooking up soup such as Scotch broth, fennel and cauliflower, curried carrot and leek and butterbean ready to be re-heated on site the following day. She plans to vary the menu to suit the season.

Meals are free of charge but any donations will go towards good causes in the community. The first to benefit will be the organ fund at Bolsover Parish Church across the road. Volunteers are also hoping to pay for a new cooker at the Parish Rooms and spruce up the building.
Pauline said: “I want to look after anyone who walks through that door....that’s why it’s called a friendship kitchen.”

“Volunteering doesn’t pay cash but it does pay in a lot of other ways - you’re contributing to a community,” said David Fish.
The serial volunteer is Bolsover’s town crier, a guide at Bolsover Castle, ambassador for Rhubarb Farm at Langwith and on the committees of Clowne Gala and Langwith Show.
And he’s the first person who people will see when they call into the friendship kitchen. “I’m mainly front of house, meeting and greeting,” said David, 71, a retired businessman who lives in Shuttlewood. “I’m not able to do it every week because of my other commitments but while I’m around, I will do it.
“I love seeing people enjoying themselves and contributing to local charities.”
Eileen Stray has been one of the helpers since the kitchen launched a month ago. She said: “I enjoy it because I meet more people. I serve, make tea and wash up.”
She has known Pauline for many years, having worked with her in the canteen at Lloyds British in Bolsover and later for her at Jaquest deli.

Another long-standing acquaintance of Pauline’s has joined the team of volunteers working in the friendship kitchen. 
Nick Denton used to help out at the Cheshire Cheese in Buxton when Pauline and John Jaquest ran it back in the 80s.
He said: “It’s absolutely marvellous the way Pauline’s organised everything but knowing her as long as I have, nothing surprises me.”
Geologist Nick, 61, who lives in Buxton, spent his first day in the friendship kitchen keeping an eye on the soup warming on the hob. He said: “I’m a natural stirrer!”
Pauline was full of praise for the volunteers who help out behind the scenes, not only on the day of the friendship kitchen but in the run-up to it. She said: “They are wonderful.”

John and Pauline Jaquest ran their fine food business in Bolsover for a quarter of a century.
Jaquest Food Specialists won 50 Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards and became one of the region’s top ambassadors, counting David Cameron and George Osborne among its fans.
The business was on Station Road for a number of years before moving to Bolsover Business Park.
In 2014, the couple handed over to new owners Rachel Lancaster and Jason Williams. 
But in July last year, the business closed. Pauline said of the closure: “It’s sad - I’ve had a lot of heartache over it.”