The Story of the Friary
Our story is rich and diverse. Founded in 1988, the Friary was created to meet the needs of
the homeless in Nottingham. Originally a drop-in café here in leafy West Bridgford to help
the hidden homeless and vulnerable in our own neighbourhood.
Open in those days just once a week and run by volunteers with our founder Ann Bremner
MBE, the Friary is now a UK registered charity maintaining its distinctly Christian ethos to
serve the poor and opens its doors on the Musters Road 6 days a week.
Responding to the ever-changing complex needs of the homeless, we have tailored our
services into the extensive provision today. We continue to meet people who are hungry. In
addition to the very real housing & financial problems, individuals often face a host of other
challenges including mental & physical ill-health, substance misuse & addiction, social
exclusion to further compound these difficulties, unemployment, illiteracy and sometimes
domestic abuse. Substance misuse is now more prevalent than we’ve ever seen.
Over the years we have extended our services to enable access to a GP, dentist, podiatrist, in-
house IT services to give support with online benefit claims, CV writing and job applications;
access to mental health professionals and a specialist nurse to assist rough sleepers.
Our mission is to help homeless and vulnerable adults to rebuild their lives by offering
practical and health services, advice and emotional support. Our commitment is to help
people individually by offering advice and support which is accessible and free to anyone
who needs it. We achieve this by the ongoing financial support, food, clothing and practical
item donations and hours of personal time given by our local community.
The OSA involvement
The OSA have been supporting Friary for around 8 years now collecting warm clothing,
sleeping bags, tents, trainers, hoodies, socks, gloves, scarves, jeans and haversacks
These can be dropped off at the OSA office on match days during opening hours.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the OSA collections.
REMEMBER! YOUR OLD CLOTHES ARE HOMELESS PEOPLES ONLY CLOTHES!
https://the-friary.org.uk/support-us/#goods-items