Welcome!
Welcome To The Cornerstone Centre
Here at The Cornerstone Center you will receive a warm welcome whether you are a first time visitor or a regular part of the community! Serving the community of Whaddon, Lynworth and Priors since 2003, the Cornerstone Centre supports people from all walks of life from the youngest to the not so young!
For many, this is a place to meet friends, be part of a community and enjoy coffee and cake or just have a place to stop and pause, for others it provides space to hold birthday parties. We offer a wide variety of activities and services where you can learn new skills, enjoy some home-made refreshments in our coffee shop.
Due to the ever-changing nature of our program the best place to keep up today is our Facebook page, if you aren’t Facebook savvy read our newsletter for the highlights.
The History of the Centre
In 1997 Reverend David Lawrence, the Vicar at St Michael’s Church, took a group of people from St Michael’s, Whaddon Methodist Church and Whaddon community to visit a mining town in Wales. David had read about how a local Church was serving the community after the closure of the mine. What they saw was a laundrette, community shop, youth groups and a credit union all under one roof. It was here that the vision of The Cornerstone Centre was borne. Whaddon Methodist Church received a substantial sum of money after a fire destroyed their Church building in 1996. They chose to invest that money into building The Cornerstone Centre which was open in September 2003. The Methodist Church had a community charity shop called the Care Shop and relocated to be part of the weekly Cornerstone Timetable alongside soup lunch and the laundrette.
When Covid hit in 2020 the Centre was faced with either furloughing its staff and waiting until the storm passed or adapting and staying operational during the pandemic. We stayed operational, present, online, on doorsteps, on Zoom, bring food to people’s doors, fitness classes down wifi connections and words of encouragement every day on Facebook. There was no way a mere pandemic would stop us loving our community.
Today, in 2025, the Centre looks a little different! We have over 350 people visiting us a week. We no longer have a launderteer or computer room. THe Care shop is floiurishing, and is open everyday with bargains galore! The cafe is also open daily and you can order anything from a simple cup of tea to a hot choclate with marshmellows and cream!
Alongside a change in the services and activitieis offered the staffing has changed a bit too! With a HUGE team of 7 members of staff it’s the biggest its ever been and as always the heart of cornerstone and the man power is in our fantastic volunteers!