A CAFÉ to reduce isolation and loneliness launched last month in Melksham at the Community Campus.
The Chatty Café was set up by Melksham and Bradford-on-Avon Primary Care Network – Gifford Surgery, Spa Medical Centre and Bradford on Avon Heath Centre – and is hosted by the Poolside Café at the Campus every Tuesday from 10am to 12pm.
“The first session was very successful; the turnout was great!” said Claire Gifford from Spa Medical Centre. “We had 12 clients who attended and are very keen to help us develop this project.
“Anxiety and loneliness are one of the biggest challenges that we are facing at the moment, and with this in mind we decided to try and bring people together and hopefully reduce some of the isolation.
“We will carry on building on this and I’m sure the café will get busier as the word spreads and more people hear about it. The health and well-being staff will be attending every session to start with and going forward we are hoping we will gain some volunteers from the Chatty Café clients who will take over running the café with us supporting them and the café.
“The Poolside Café staff were very supportive in what we are trying to do and nothing was too much trouble for them.”
The Chatty Café Scheme started in 2017 to encourage conversations between people in spaces such as cafés. This involves having a designated area, as ‘Chatter & Natter’ tables, for clients to sit at if they would like to have conversations with other people.
“There is no agenda or topics to these sessions, they are all about facilitating opportunities for people interaction and hopefully tackling loneliness at the same time,” said Claire.
For more information visit the Chatty Cafe Scheme UK website https://thechattycafescheme.co.uk/
