Camilla visits Pepper Pot Centre to hear of coronavirus support
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The Duchess of Cornwall has visited a day centre for elderly members of the African Caribbean community to hear about support offered to them during the coronavirus pandemic.
Camilla met staff at the Pepper Pot Centre which was set up in Ladbroke Grove, west London, nearly 40 years ago as a safe haven for the Windrush generation by the late racial discrimination activist Pansy Jeffrey.
The duchess also video-called some of the older people who use the centre from the IT suite to hear about their plans for virtual activities.
She was met by Mrs Jeffrey’s son Howard, who is now chair of the organisation, which was founded to combat discrimination, isolation, depression and loneliness among the growing generation of African Caribbean older people.
The Queen has visited the Pepper Pot Centre twice – first to open the site in 1981 and then in 2006 to mark its 25th anniversary, when she toured the hair salon and art room.
During the Covid-19 outbreak, the centre has been supporting its members through a meal delivery service and regular phone calls.
The name Pepper Pot comes from an Amerindian dish, made popular in Guyana, which Mrs Jeffrey served to the small group of pensioners she first invited to lunch at the Citizens Advice Bureau where she was working.
The centre sits underneath the busy A40 Westway dual carriageway, one of the main routes into London from the west.
