Community café offering talks, games, crafts and more for Speen’s villagers welcomes all

It’s a group organising a coffee morning in the afternoon, and meets not in a community hall, but a pub. And soon it will be celebrating its third anniversary.

The Speen Community Café meets on Wednesdays in The Starting Gate pub in Brummel Road and is a lifeline for many.

Its programme includes talks, games, quizzes, crafts, bingo and special guest events.

While it is a group that welcomes those who are lonely, widowed or want somewhere to go to meet other Speen residents, it is not specifically aimed at them. Instead, it is for everyone.

And that is why it attracts around 60 people every week.

It was launched by Kerry Bird, who said: “There is not much in Speen for people to meet up and socialise together.

“I thought I should launch a coffee morning somewhere.

“The primary school wasn’t keen because of safeguarding issues.

“Then, a vicar friend told me to go to the pub and ask if we could use a function room.”

Landlady Sian Cousins welcomed the group, and the rest is history.

“The café is lovely. All the volunteers do a great job of making everyone feel welcome,” she said.

“It’s great and open to everyone, all ages and families are very welcome. Try it.”

Mrs Bird is grateful for the support which has enabled the café to grow.

“For nearly three years, every Wednesday afternoon, we take over most of The Starting Gate.

“We run it a bit like a coffee morning, but it’s in the afternoon.

“We have tea, coffee and cakes all laid out, you can come and have what you want, give a donation and there is no set cost.

“You can bring people, meet people, come on your own, join in conversations…”

The Brummel Road estate, Mrs Bird said, has a mixture of residents including people who live on their own, are widowed or lonely.

It is these people she had in mind when launching the café.

“There are quite a few single parent families too,” she said.

“It is hard enough being a parent, but having to do it on your own, with perhaps an abusive partner, or whatever … there are quite a lot of lonely adults.

“I noticed it in our area, and I wanted to do something about it.”

The café is volunteer led and ensures people are made welcome and given signposting toward appropriate support. Some people attending are even referred by their GP.

“We’ve had quite a few ‘social prescribers’: GPs encourage people with low level mental health, depression, loneliness to activities and places to go,” Mrs Bird said. “We’ve had quite a few come through that route.

“The people we want to reach are sometimes a bit under confident and it’s a big deal to walk into a pub on their own.”

She said word of mouth is one of the best ways for people to find out about the café.

It is held every Wednesday from 2pm to 4pm at The Starting Gate, and welcomes new members. Entry is free.

Full details are on its Facebook page, or by logging on to: www.speencommunity.org

Across the year it organises special events, including a subsidised visit to the pantomime, a Sunday lunch at the Royal British Legion, carol singing and a recent day at Swanage.

“We’re a group of people who live around here trying to get other people to not be scared of going out and talking to people,” Mrs Bird continued.

“Every week we are hosting a safe environment to come and meet others.”