Stowmarket brew group celebrates 5th anniversary with cake, board games and fancy dress
A coffee club launched to combat loneliness has celebrated a milestone anniversary – and raised a cuppa to toast a member's 90th birthday.
Monday Brew Group is a free biweekly event organised by volunteers at the United Reformed Church in Ipswich Street, Stowmarket.
Organiser Michelle Frost set up the group, along with the Jam Community Pot Christmas Day lunch, to offer a chance for those who may be isolated to get together and chat over a coffee and piece of cake.
She said: “It’s such a lovely atmosphere here today and to have been here five years is so great - and it’s good to see so many people come along.
“It’s just a little place for everyone to go and there’s such great friendships everywhere you look.
“We started with the Christmas Day lunches – but obviously loneliness isn’t just at Christmas and there was a real need for this.
“My own loneliness was why I started this after my son started going to school and I lost both my grandparents - but now it feels like everyone here is just one big family which is lovely.”
The event saw more than 40 people come along to enjoy hot drinks, board games and even a fancy dress photo booth.
There were also many celebrations as attendee Jean Powell marked her 90th birthday by blowing out the candles of a homemade cake.
Jean came along for the first Monday Brew Group session in 2018 and has been regularly attending ever since.
“It was lovely then and it’s lovely now,” she said. “And it gets you out, which is so important.
“I live alone and I sadly lost my two little dogs during Covid - which I miss terribly – but I come along to this every other week and we love playing Scrabble.
“It’s really brilliant and Michelle is absolutely wonderful. It's such hard work to put this on – but the volunteers are all fantastic.”
This year is also marking 10 years since Michelle started hosting the Christmas Day lunch which sees hundreds attend each year.
However, the event has not been without its challenges as the volunteers continued to deliver Christmas lunches to people’s doorsteps when they could not get out during the pandemic.
The team behind the coffee mornings are looking for more volunteers and to get involved call Michelle on 07810456512.
