Café Hope is a virtual coffee shop on Radio 4. Rachel Burden invites a guest to join her for a brew and a fifteen minute chat. Her guests are ordinary people who have done something which has made the world a better place. Often way beyond what they expected.
Nigel and his wife were looking forward to their retirement together, but it was not to be. His wife was diagnosed with cancer and, after a short illness, she died. At the funeral wake, Ted and two of his friends arranged to meet for breakfast the following week. Calling themselves The Mostly Grumpy Old Men, they continued to meet weekly. Others began to join them. Now over 100 people attend the weekly breakfasts and the idea has spread worldwide.
Dutch supermarket Jumbo have introduced a Kletskassa – a chat checkout. It’s a separate queue that allows customers and cashiers to have a leisurely chat. They are positioned next to “chat corners” where people can sit and have a drink. Supermarkets in France and Canada are trying the same idea. Interestingly, there is no shortage of staff volunteering to work on these tills.
That coffee and chat after the Sunday morning service, may be doing more than we think.
Chris Dawson