Melbourn Hub is a vital support organisation, situated at the heart of the village of Melbourn. Established in 2014, our motto is ‘for the community, by the community’. We exist to provide a range of services to the residents of Melbourn and its surrounding villages, with a warm and welcoming café alongside the village library. The Hub also contains state of the art meeting spaces allowing partnership with a range of community, commercial and health organisations.
We are a registered charity and form an independent arm of Melbourn Parish Council.
A short history of Melbourn Hub
Melbourn Hub was truly born out of the community it serves. Residents of Melbourn were consulted in 2009/10 in order to develop a Village Plan, canvassing opinion from every house on every street. It was established from this that the community strongly wanted the local library saved from closure, as well as a “Village Centre’ where people could come together and that offered a range of facilities including a cafe.
When the original police site on the High Street was sold to Social Housing developers Hundred Houses Society, an approach was made by the Parish Council asking if a bespoke building could be accommodated on the site to provide the facilities that the community had asked for. The developers agreed and the Parish Council commissioned and purchased the Hub building, leasing it in 2013 to a volunteer management group to run it on their behalf and deliver the services the community wanted. Therein started the Hub’s journey!
The Hub’s potential eventually outgrew the existing building and so began the expansion of the Hub during the Covid lockdown of 2021 to become the unique building you see today. The investment resulted in extra meeting rooms, all beautifully equipped to the latest standards. The outside terrace was extended to provide more outside seating space, along with an updated kitchen and stylish redecoration
Our mission throughout this time has never changed – to provide residents of Melbourn and beyond with the services, events and facilities it wants! We are thus always growing, changing and improving the services we offer. Notable is ‘Health at the Hub’. This is a collaboration between the Hub, local GP practices, the wider NHS including the NHS Covid vaccination teams together with a range of other independent services from Citizens Advice to mental health counselling.
Our staff and volunteers
The café has proven to be focus for the village, bustling with people who enjoy the friendly welcome and value for money, which The Hub has maintained as part of its ethos of community inclusion. The popularity of the café has enabled the Hub to steadily increase the employment opportunities we are able to offer local people. We have built a skilled and competent staff team of which we are extremely proud. The friendly welcome they provide is a key reason people love coming to the Hub again and again!
Although we have a fantastic small team of paid staff running the kitchen and cafe, none of what we do at the Hub would be possible without the dedication, loyalty and unwavering support of a wide range of volunteers. Our amazing team of volunteers enjoy the inclusion and wellbeing that volunteering brings for the many people wishing to remain active in the community.
The dedicated (and also volunteer) Management Team that have run the Hub in recent years set their sights on making the operation as financially sound as possible.
The Hub’s management group, many of its serving staff and all of its administrative and library staff do what they do on an entirely voluntary basis. This model, and our long partnership with Melbourn Parish Council, allows us to confidently provide and increase our services to the wider community for many years to come
Meet the team
Gemma Dowling – Gemma joined the hub in September 2021 as Catering Manager and was promoted to Hub Manager in February 2024. Gemma has over 10 years of experience in hospitality. As hub Manager, Gemma’s job involves the day to day running of the hub, including the cafe and room hire. With a fabulous team of staff, volunteers and directors, we have created not only a cafe for the community but a place for people to come together and socialise. We have a friendly team who welcome everyone and we take pride in our delicious food.
John Travis – As chair of the management group John is responsible for co-ordination of the various elements making up the Hub business. He formally represents the Hub when dealing with outside agencies such as the Parish Council or other major organisations that affect what we do. He is also responsible for overall strategy and for steering the Hub so it meets its charitable objectives. John was previously a European Director for Pfizer Inc.and has been involved with the development of Melbourn Hub since it was just an idea on paper in 2012
Linsey Craike – Linsey joined the management group in 2022, wanting to give something back to the Hub, which was so welcoming to her when she and her family moved to the area in 2021. Linsey primarily focuses on publicity and marketing for the Hub. She works in London Monday to Wednesday and has two small children who keep her busy for most of the rest of her time, but devotes a few hours every Thursday to Hub-related activity.
Jose Hales- Jose’s main focus is on operations, including the building infrastructure, health & safety, Hub events, ‘Health at the Hub ‘ and raising awareness outside of Melbourn about the services the Hub offers. Jose was at the forefront of the original Hub concept and its subsequent development, starting over a decade ago. He is a former London Fire Service firefighter and currently one of the elected District Councillors for the Melbourn Ward. Jose is also a trustee of the Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme.
Jonathan Berks – Jonathan acts as our Financial Director and is responsible for all financial matters including supervising the daily bookkeeping and monthly payroll, and ensuring the completion and submission of quarterly Vat returns and annual accounts. Jonathan joined the Board in 2016 and at that time he was running his own accountancy practice in Royston. He retired from this in April 2019 which has enabled him to spend more time as a volunteer for The Hub.
Steve Kilmurray Steve became a director at the Hub in February 2017. His primary concern is the technology – the computing, till and phone systems. Additionally he carries out most of the bookkeeping and cash management for the business. Steve took early retirement after 25 years working offshore as head of the survey department on a seismic survey ship. He is also a Parish Councillor for Melbourn.
Jackie Fox – Jackie joined the Hub’s management group in 2024 as our company secretary. Jackie Fox has over 30 years’ experience as a company secretary; 17 of those years working for FTSE100 companies. Jackie brings a wealth of experience working for a wide range of industries of varying sizes.
Jeannie Seers – Jeannie provides general consultancy support for the Hub on an ad-hoc basis. She was first involved with The Hub as a nondirector helping on various aspects of the original Hub build and opening phases back in 2013/14 and joined as a director in 2017.
Sarah Alderton – Sarah joined the Management Group as a director in June 2024 to support with HR, data protection and general governance matters. She works as Director of Corporate Services for an AI company, and has fond memories of visiting the Hub with her children each year when visiting from New Zealand and watching it grow. She has over 20 years’ experience in HR and Operations, having started her career in hotel management, and looks forward to continuing a family tradition of volunteering at the Hub.
Our partners
