Pansy Jeffrey
Founder

The Pepper Pot Centre was created by Pansy Jeffrey and formally established in 1981, under the auspices of the Community Service of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Citizens Advice Bureau. Pansy, originally from Guyana, initially worked as a nurse and health visitor, but began working in race relations in Notting Hill in 1959. She was employed full-time as a West Indian Social Worker by the Family Welfare Association Department of the Kensington and Chelsea Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

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Due to her work, Pansy Jeffrey developed a goal to offer a culturally sensitive drop-in centre for recently retired, redundant or disabled members of the elderly Caribbean and African community. In her role at the Citizens' Advice Bureau - on the very site of Pepper Pot today - Pansy Jeffrey had heard many tales of hardship faced by the early Caribbean settlers who came to London to furnish the labour market in the 1950s and 1960s.

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One visitor’s tale of retirement depression compelled Pansy Jeffrey to act. She and her CAB colleague Bridget Davies organised a lunch-time soup and served it to half dozen Caribbean pensioners who otherwise had nowhere to meet their Caribbean Counterparts. It was the genesis of a Caribbean talking shop. As a result of pressure from the Caribbean community the Pepper Pot Centre stirred into life.

 " By the end of the 1970s, it was clear to me that there was an increasing number of people of Caribbean origin, categorised as Senior Citizens, who were suffering great isolation, loneliness and depression. I had to do something."

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-Pansy Jeffrey

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