Community café needed more than ever says founder
A community café in the village of Helpringham near Sleaford brings young and old together, and helps people with their mental health.
Run from St Andrew’s Church in the centre of the village, the community café was set up by Fee Lightfoot in 2019 about six months before the first Covid-19 lockdown. Fee knew of people who were struggling with “severe” mental health problems and “felt a need” to establish something more for the community, as Helpringham is a small village with just one pub and one shop.
She said: “No-one will come into this café and sit alone. We just do as much as we can to serve the community and a whole mix of people come. Some people still come for their mental health, and we have people who bake for us because that’s their chill-out time”.
In addition to the café, Fee and the team of volunteers here run a range of other services including a foodbank. Again this was established during Covid, but Fee explained there are still people in need today.
“A big misconception is people driving round Helpringham and seeing the big houses, they don’t see the smaller ones and the people that are struggling.
I’ve been called out at one o’clock in the morning because people have got a child who’s gone to bed with an empty tummy and they’ve woken up crying, and I’ve gone and got food for them.”
One group of women, Gilly, Bugs, Sandra and Ginny have found the café a lifeline to prevent isolation and their friendships have grown stronger there.
Gilly only moved to the village a few months ago to be closer to family, but she says “I knew nobody at first, then I met Bugs. It’s a way of us all meeting.” Gilly’s health problems mean she’s not confident to go out at night and can struggle to cook for herself – “to come here and be waited on and be able to chat is fantastic”.
Gilly’s friend Bugs said: “What these ladies have done is terrific. It’s brought all of us together. And the food is brilliant.”
Sandra said: “Some people you walk past them in the street but you don’t have a chat like you do here.”
The community café in Helpringham is open on a Wednesday from 10.30am – 1.30pm. The volunteers cook fresh breakfast rolls and paninis as well as serving a range of cakes and drinks. They say they are always grateful for any donations towards their foodbank or Christmas hampers for those in need.