SOLDIERS and families at Colchester Garrison will benefit from new dining facilities designed to improve the quality of life for everyone based there.
The Eagle’s Rock Café, funded by Colchester Garrison Welfare Committee, is based in the community centre in Fallowfield Road and offers somewhere for families to enjoy a hot drink or lunch with friends.
Soldiers will benefit from the new pay-as-you-dine restaurant which provides extended opening hours and gives flexibility over when they dine, what they buy and how much they pay.
The Café was opened by former England rugby international and BBC Question of Sport star Matt Dawson, Sodexo’s health and well-being ambassador.
Colonel Gary Wilkinson OBE, Commander of Colchester Garrison, said: “We are committed to providing the best facilities possible for both soldiers and their families.
“At Merville Barracks, the new dining facilities will provide troops with better choice and control over what they eat; while the Eagle’s Rock Café represents a significant improvement to the facilities for our families in Colchester and is based on what they have asked us to provide.
“The Eagle’s Rock Café is a facility suitable for everything from friends meeting informally for a coffee to gatherings organised by unit welfare teams.
“We hope that it will very quickly become the heart of the Garrison community.”
Andy Leach, Managing Director Sodexo Defence, said: “Sodexo is delighted to be working in partnership with DIO to bring the kind of up-to-date, high-street-style dining facilities that the community in Colchester Garrison deserves.
“Our flexible dining options are designed to suit the high tempo nature of Service life and also provide a warm welcome to the wider community, including Service families, civil servants and contractors.”
If you want to get more involved in your community, garrison community centres and cafés are a great start.