Welcome to

Wishing you a warm welcome to The Ark Cafe at Rossington Holmescarr Community Centre, based in what was a 1930s school building, and holding a tenancy from the City of Doncaster Council. We operate on full volunteer staffing.

We are regularly open on weekdays from 10 am to 1 pm for cafe services, and some workshops and courses, and we have extra times for other activities and events in the afternoons, evenings and weekends. We open for larger-scale events at weekends and in school holidays, using the outside grounds with seating when the weather allows. We are closed on Bank Holidays and for some days between Christmas and New Year.

Our activities are centred around the cafe, which is a tea and coffee shop, offering support services to the community, but we do far more than just a cafeteria service. The building has no Reception so we are often the first place people arrive at when visiting Holmescarr, and we can link them with other tenants and services within the campus.

Our main outgoing support to the community is the Food Train, a food delivery service going out weekly, distinct from the Trussell Trust Foodank, as we provide to Rossington only with support to nearby villages. It operates on donations, grants, food purchases and the income from surplus food sold in the cafe at bargain prices. Everyone can help achieve that outcome in one way or another. We have operated the Food Train since March 2020, travelling out on Wednesday lunchtimes with bags of food which has been purchased from grants and donations, or from relationships with organisations managing surplus food.

You can expect a warm and friendly atmosphere with friendly, approachable staff, and they will signpost you to other agencies and organisations if you need wider help.