Oliver to Twist again in new Woodquay location

Date Published: 18-Apr-2013

BY DARA BRADLEY

The city’s charity soup kitchen, Twist, which has been shut for the past month, will be resurrected at new premises in Woodquay in the next fortnight, its founder has confirmed.

Athenry-native Oliver Williams also confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that he is planning to run for a City Council seat in the next local elections, which will be held in 2014.

Mr Williams said he will officially announce his candidacy, and the area in which he will run (city or county), in the coming weeks but he is eyeing up a seat on the City Council as an independent.

“A lot of people have urged me to consider running – they seem to appreciate my radical outspoken approach to things. People, particularly business people, seem to want a change,” said Mr Williams, who now has five soup kitchens across the West of Ireland.

Meanwhile, he confirmed the soup kitchen at Victoria Place near the Docks, which has been closed for the past month after running into trouble with city planners, will be re-opened in Woodquay.

“I’m in discussions on taking over a building in Woodquay, and we should be up and running in the next week, although it’s looking more like two weeks,” he said.

City planners had issued an enforcement notice on Mr Williams last Autumn, describing the building as an unauthorised development. He applied for planning permission for its retention, he said, and that was nearing completion but it was decided to scrap the plan altogether.

Mr Williams said Twist is now also offering a ‘meals on wheels’ type service and bring food to the people rather than bringing people to the soup kitchen. He said Twist was donated a refrigerated truck, worth €30,000 and it was delivering food to “single mothers living in city estates”.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.