Speaker Meeting, 6.15 for 6.30pm

Mon, Apr 13th 2026 at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Speaker: Sophie Boyce, Charity Manager, Big Breakfast Plus


Club members please log in for more information.

Big Breakfast Plus is a Registered Charity (1197825) that feeds the hungry in Swindon. They offer a cooked breakfast for people who are homeless or hungry, with signposting to support services including health, welfare, housing, and addiction.

Big Breakfast Plus website

Some of us knew of Big Breakfast Plus but Sophie Boyce, Charity Manager, helped us to understand how it is “run”.  

It started in 1993 as the Broad Green Breakfast Club.  The venue has been moved a few times but they are now based at the Pilgrim Centre and breakfast is available to anyone who is hungry whether – homeless, asylum seeking, lonely, low income.  No booking required guests can just walk in.  

In addition to breakfast guests can take up to 5 pieces of fruit home.  It is open 7 days a week and functions with 4 paid staff and 70-80 volunteers (and 9 trustees).  The average number of breakfasts served in 2025 was 30,401.  Volunteer hours were 10,016.  81% of guests are aged between 22 and 59; 17% 60 to 79 and 2% over 80.  80% of guests are male.

Big Breakfast Plus cannot offer support but works with various Support Groups and introduce guests to the people who can help.  Clothing and toiletries are also distributed to those who need them.

Their income comes from several sources including grants from the Lottery and the Zurich
Community Trust, Individual Donors and Fund Raising.  Their annual, budget is in the region of £156K.

In 2024 they were awarded the Kings Medal for Voluntary Services.
 

'What We Do' Main Pages:

Corporate Membership enables small, medium and large businesses to join Rotary. Corporate Membership gives a company a unique platform for service, networking and professional and personal growth, rooted within the local community

more  

Will you join our 250-Club lottery? We have run it for more than 25 years and in that time it has raised tens of thousands of Pounds for charity

more  

No problem, join us as a Friend of Rotary

more  

Great Western Academy believes every student deserves the chance to thrive. It's values are ACE - Achievement, Care and Excellence.

more  

A milestone visit marked by the signing of a twinning agreement, warm hospitality, and shared Rotary values of service and international understanding.

more  

Rotary aprons for Commonweal Students to keep them cooking

more  

We give Emergency Bleed Control Kits in Cabinets to Owen’s World

more  

Have a read, and then get in touch with one of us for a chat

more  

Giving money and support to the people in Swindon & district who need it most

more  

We make another donation to the charity which provides emergency shelter and assistance when disasters strike

more  

A brief summary of our Rotary year ending 30/06/2025

more  

Children's bereavement charity Wiltshire Treehouse is based in Swindon

more  

A Partner Club is a Rotary club that supports ShelterBox's work in disaster relief by donating over £2,000 in a Rotary year

more  

Rotary’s second major donation, of £208,000, was handed over on 7th July 2021 when local Rotarians visited the Great Western Hospital to view the build progress of the nearly completed radiotherapy unit.

more  

Brighter Futures launched their Radiotherapy Appeal in 2015. Today, 7 years later, a ribbon cutting ceremony has taken place at the Great Western Hospital

more  

Rotarian Terry Williams' remarkable and unique fund raising effort, living in a ShelterBox emergency tent for a week in the Market Place, Highworth

more