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26
Mar
Harrogate café chosen as venue for meet-ups tackling loneliness
A Harrogate café has agreed to host a charity scheme which encourages lonely people to speak to others.
The Saints Coffee on St Winifred's Avenue, will host the Chatty Café Scheme every Wednesday as of next week. It will run from 2pm to 3.30pm.
Chatty Cafés, which operate across the UK on a non-profit basis, bring together people who feel lonely or just want to meet new faces.
The Harrogate location will be the second Chatty Café in the district, after one launched in Ripon’s Fishergate Costa Coffee last week.
The Stray Ferret visited The Saints Coffee today to speak with Colleen Gruenwald, the volunteer behind the venture in Harrogate. We asked why she had decided to establish the initiative:
I heard about the scheme a few years ago and it sounded like a really good thing to do. I like the idea of getting people together to enjoy chatting.
A lot of times you’ll go to a café and think that some of the people you see look like they’d love to speak to someone or are here for the company.
I’ve done it myself. Maybe I’ll be working from home and it’s a wee bit quiet, so I’ll go to a café to have a bit of noise around me.
Ultimately it’s about getting people together and encouraging the community.
The Saints Coffee staff. Photo: Gerard Binks
The scheme, which was established in 2017, operates in over 1,400 locations in the UK, Australia and America.
Founder Alex Hoskyn decided to establish the charity while feeling lonely in a supermarket café on maternity leave. She noticed an elderly woman also looking in need of a chat and decided there needed to be more spaces that encouraged social interaction.
Ms Gruenwald explained why she chose The Saints Coffee as the venue:
I do the park run every weekend and we always come into this café afterwards for a coffee. It’s a really nice space.
One thing Kat [the owner] does which is really nice is allow people to donate their takeaway stamps. There is a certain amount of takeaway stamps you need before you can get an item for free, so, if people donate enough stamps to the café, then people who maybe don’t have enough money or have just forgotten their change that day can claim a free drink or bite to eat.
Photo: Gerard Binks
There are no obligations to buy anything from the café. Ms Gruenwald said that the primary objective is about getting people together, so if they just want to have a glass of water they can.
The Alana Care Solutions director added she has had training to become a volunteer for the scheme.
There will be designated tables within the café that have yellow ‘Chatter and Natter’ signs on them. Anyone is welcome to go and meet new people in the community.
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