The Donald Thomas Day Care Centre may appear just a rundown old building to those who pass on the street, but to the pensioners who gather there every lunchtime it is a lifeline just as important as any emergency service.

The atmosphere inside the centre where veteran co-ordinator Chris Dodds - or "angel" as she is known to clients - deals out up to 70 lunches a day is nearly as high as the combined ages of its diners.

The centre, which is little known to people who do not use it, provides cheap meals and services such as shopping for pensioners who live in the Camborne area.

But anyone who goes there will tell you it's about much more than that. Most of the people who flock through the doors on weekday lunchtimes live alone, having lost spouses and have children who have moved away.

They say the centre is more than a place to eat. For them the staff that work there and the people that sit across the table are their family.

Sprightly 74-year-old Dot Baker told the Packet that she was persuaded by Mrs Dodds to attend the centre after her husband died. "She (Mrs Dodds) was the making of me. When Eric died I was really down, if it wasn't for her I don't think I would have made it," she said.

Mrs Baker said she returned to Camborne after living in Zambia for 15 years. "Before I started coming here I could walk around Camborne and not know a soul. Now I know loads of people," she said. "You won't find another place like this anywhere."

Doing the shopping for the pensioners is just one of the other services that the centre supplies, along with a yearly holiday, bingo and occasional treats such as a free Christmas dinner.

Pat Pryor said she comes to the centre regardless of whether or not she is eating. "The staff here don't only do their duty they do much more. This is a family and it desperately needs support, I don't think that the public even realises anybody even comes in here.

"When I come in we all laugh together and have a great time. It's when you get home and there's no one there that you get miserable," she said.

Much to the disappointment of the people that attend her centre, Chris Dodds is planning to retire after 18 years there. "I don't want to leave, but I feel they deserve somebody younger. I will be extremely sad, I look at all the people who come here like my own mum and dad. I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave."

Mrs Dodds said that the centre would never exist if it were not for the dedicated staff and volunteers that help with the running of the operation.

The day centre is now looking for someone hands on, who can care and manage at the same time to replace Mrs Dodds as co-ordinator.